Pokémon: In A League Of Their Own
by AceTrainerLeo
Summary: The undefeated champion of the Allanza region has decided to retire early, and all of a sudden every trainer in the region is gunning for her spot. Oliver Clairmont couldn't have timed his induction into the world of Pokemon training any better. But some people will do anything to win, and there's more at stake than just a title. [WARNING: CONTAINS FAKEMON]
1. New Friends and New Challenges

"Heracross, use Rock Slide!"

The blue armored beetle began mercilessly pounding the ground, ripping it apart and sending boulder-sized chunks of the stadium's ground at the intimidating purple scorpion across from it, falling from their arc like meteors.

"You can take it, Drapion!" Drapion's trainer, a woman with dark purple hair wearing a black beanie and a black jacket shouted. "Power through it and use Fire Fang!"

Drapion, crossing its large arms in front of its face, powered forward on its four legs, the rocks pounding against it and breaking apart on contact. Soon it was right in front of Heracross and it opened its mouth, its fangs beginning to glow red.

Heracross's trainer, a woman with long black hair tied into a ponytail and dressed in a martial arts gi, shot out her hand. "Now's your chance, Heracross! Use Megahorn!" Heracross reared back its head, building power in its forked horn.

Before it could slam it into Drapion, the scorpion used its large claws to hold Heracross in place, then bit down into the beetle with red-hot fangs. The impact created a massive burst of flames, and when the smoke cleared…

"Heracross is down!" The nearby referee shouted. "Mel is out of usable Pokemon! Once again, Raleigh is the champion!"

The crowd in the stadium went nuts as the League Champion was declared the victor of this exhibition match. Raleigh, the purple-haired woman, recalled Drapion into its Pokeball, the red light enveloping the Poison/Dark-type before it became one with it and zoomed back into the ball.

"It's hardly a surprise, but that didn't make the fight any less exciting!" sounded the voice of the announcer over the PA. "Mel certainly held her own, as to be expected from Feystone's Gym Leader, but Raleigh's team hardly even broke a sweat!"

Mel approached the downed Heracross, putting her hand on its carapace in a soothing manner. "Good job, Hera. You didn't let me down."

As the Gym Leader recalled her own Pokemon, Raleigh stepped into the center of the arena, which had a Pokeball pattern on the turf (though a good chunk of it had been torn apart by Heracross's Rock Slide and an earlier use of Earthquake) and raised her hands in a gesture to quiet everyone down.

"Thank you. Thank you, everyone," she spoke loudly as the cheering died down. "I'd like to thank Mel for the battle. But more importantly," she said to the now silent audience, "I have an announcement I'd like to make…"

* * *

The morning sun rose over Shorvul Town. The suburbs were situated on a corner of land with a river to the west and the ocean to the south. Nestled against the dry field to the north, the brownish-red rooftops gave the town the appearance of rusted metal from above. The town itself was not big or bustling. If one were to see this town and only this town, it would feed the stereotype of Allanza being the nice, quiet next-door neighbor of Orre.

The Allanza Region's age requirement to receive a Trainer license was 14 years old, sort of a happy medium between Kanto's requirement being 10 and the Unova region's more strict 16. For Oliver Clairmont, his 14th birthday could not come soon enough.

The black-haired boy was facing away from his bedroom window, allowing him to easily ignore the rising sun shining in. It was the weekend, after all, and he didn't have his license just yet, so he didn't exactly feel the need to wake up at a timely hour, and figured he could sleep in.

It would seem the two small Pokemon who entered the room disagreed.

The door was swung open telekinetically courtesy of Ralts. The small, white, humanoid Pokemon with red, disc-like horns rolled her eyes from under her green hair that resembled a bowl cut. She turned to the other, a Joltik, which bobbed its yellow fuzzy body, as it didn't exactly have a head to nod.

On its four legs, it swiftly hopped up onto Oliver's bed and tapped on his head impatiently. Oliver merely groaned in response. Glaring at him with his four compound eyes, Joltik delivered a small electric shock. Not a severe shock, it was more the kind of shock you'd get if you touched the metal bit of a trampoline with your bare hands. Nonetheless it had the desired effect and Oliver jolted awake.

"All right, all right, I'm up! Geez…" Oliver rubbed the back of his neck where the electrical shock had taken place. Joltik had since crawled over to Oliver's left shoulder where it was sitting smugly. Oliver blinked a couple times then began feeling around on his nearby desk.

Squinting his hazel eyes, he peered at his desk and then frowned. "Either of you guys remember where I put my glasses?" Ralts waddled over to the desk and peered around it until she saw the missing eyewear, which Oliver had set on top of a notebook the night before that had the same black color as the glasses' frame, thus causing it to blend in.

She telekinetically levitated the glasses over to Oliver. "Thanks, Ralts." He put them on and stood up, stretching. Joltik had since moved down from his perch and was now rummaging around in a drawer in that same desk, before finally tossing a AAA battery out and onto the floor. Oliver smiled as the little bug jumped down to it and started feeding off of the electricity from it.

"Joltik's got the right idea, let's go get some breakfast," Oliver said as he picked up Ralts and proceeded to head downstairs to the kitchen. Ralts could walk on her own, of course, but she rather liked being carried.

"Morning honey!" Oliver's mother called, her loose, unkempt hair the same black color, though a bit lighter with age.

"Morning, mom. Did you send the wake-up call?"

"Yeah, I did. I didn't want to go up and get you while I had food on the stove."

"Why couldn't I just sleep in?"

"Didn't you remember? Our new neighbors' boat arrived today and they're going to start moving in soon."

Oliver's eyes widened. He completely forgot! A new family was moving next door from the Galar region and he had volunteered (read: was volunteered by his mother) to help do the heavy lifting. Normally a moving company would come in with some Machoke or something, but the family had opted to do the move the old-fashioned way.

Besides, they had a girl about Oliver's age and he could use more friends, his mother had reasoned.

Oliver hurriedly stuffed some hard-boiled eggs into his face and rushed back upstairs to get dressed. Now, Oliver didn't really spend that much time thinking about girls, but he did want to make a good first impression, and showing up to do some heavy lifting was a good way to do just that. Or so he had heard.

A couple minutes later, he dashed back downstairs dressed in a forest green windbreaker and khaki cargo pants. He also had a black backpack which Ralts was riding in, looking quite relaxed, while Joltik had resumed his post on Oliver's left shoulder. The boy and his two Pokemon went out the door.

* * *

The move had already started when he arrived at the formerly vacant house, seeing a large, brick-shaped man lifting a sofa opposite a young man who looked to be about 3 years Oliver's senior.

"'Scuse me," he said, walking towards them, "You guys the Taylors?"

"Aye, that's us," the man said, smiling warmly at the new arrival. "Ye mist be Oliver, if ah'ament mistaken." He turned his head back towards the dock where they were moving their things from. "Gies a haun, wull ye? We aye hae a lot o' boxes left."

"I understood maybe half of that, but okay."

The boat was only a short walk away, as the house wasn't too far from shore. Luckily most of the boxes were already out on the dock. Oliver set his backpack on the ground and let Ralts out. "Alright, your psychic powers might work on some of the lighter stuff, so help out with that, alright?" Ralts nodded.

"And Joltik? Maybe stay up here, don't want anyone to accidentally step on you again." Joltik gave another full-body nod.

Oliver approached one of the boxes and crouched down to lift it, only to hear a girl's voice nearby.

"Na, na, na, dinnae tip ower, please na, oh f**k oh f**k oh sh**e-"

Not batting an eye at her pottymouth (he heard worse on an average school day) he turned to see someone holding a rather tall box that was on the verge of tipping over. Acting quickly, Oliver ran over and steadied it.

"You okay there?"

"Aye, thank ye, this is richt fragile, ah dinnae wantae break this. By th' wey, who the f**k urr ye?"

Oliver chuckled. "I'm Oliver. And you?"

"A'm Moira. Nice tae meet ye! Ye mind helpin' me carry this?"

"Oh, certainly!"

And with that, the two began awkwardly moving towards the house, the two of them looking like two Krabby as they shuffled with their awkwardly-shaped package.

They soon made it into the house and set the thing down, and Oliver finally got a good look at Moira. She was a couple inches shorter than him with brown hair in a bob, wearing a black shirt under a red hoodie and a pleated purple skirt.

"Thanks again," Moira said, rubbing her hands to get the soreness out of them. "Kin ye help me shift th' rest o' thaim?"

"Well I mean… that's why I'm here," Oliver said, running his hand through his hair, trying to sound smooth but only managing to vaguely confused. Moira chuckled.

"A' richt, let's git tae it then."

* * *

The rest of the move went pretty smoothly. It was half past 10 when they finished, and they invited Oliver to stay for lunch, which he accepted. He learned that her older brother's name was Stephen and that they had moved here because Moira's mother worked for a shipping company, the name of which Oliver didn't recognize.

But more importantly…

"A'm a Pokemon trainer, whit aboot ye?"

"Oh, me? I mean, I'm not 14 yet, but I'm turning 14 in a couple weeks. Then I can get my license. Then I can use my Pokemon in actual battles-"

"Wait, hauld yer Mudsdales, fourteen? A got ma card a while back... oh sh**e, will mine e'en work here?" Moira asked with a worried expression.

"Oh, don't worry," Oliver reassured, waving his hand in the air as though swatting an invisible fly. "Allanza's pretty lenient about this sort of thing, if it's valid in Galar they'll let you keep it."

"Och, that's guid tae hear," she said in a sigh of relief.

"Hey, if you're already a trainer, does that mean you've got Pokemon?"

"O' coorse ah dae!" Moira proudly replied, producing two simple red Pokeballs. "Only thae twa though. Th' rest ur wi' mah uncle. Thay wouldn't let me bring th' rest wi' me," she explained. Oliver nodded. Galar was incredibly paranoid about invasive species and its border policies were famously strict about what Pokemon were allowed in or out of the region. He remembered hearing the story of one unfortunate fellow who was detained for trying to bring a Dunsparce, of all Pokemon, into the country.

"Well, let's see them!" Oliver eagerly asked, Ralts (who was currently eating a sandwich twice as big as she was) and Joltik equally curious to meet their potential new friends.

"Sure thin'. They probably want lunch ower. Come on oot!" she exclaimed, tossing the Pokeballs nearby, releasing a flash of red light as her Sobble and Wooloo came into view.

Sobble was a timid blue lizard with a round head, a yellow fin on top of its head, and big, innocent, teary eyes. Wooloo was almost perfectly spherical and covered in soft white wool with black spots, as well as having four cloven hooves and rectangular eyes on its black muzzle. The two looked around curiously, Sobble looking rather uncomfortable with his new surroundings, and Wooloo was annoyed because Joltik had already leapt into her fur and began to feed on the static electricity buildup within it.

Oliver laughed at Joltik's first impression as Ralts made to calm Sobble down from his panic. All in all, the first introduction went pretty smoothly once they fished Joltik out of Wooloo's wool.

It was then that an important question occurred to Oliver.

"Hey, Moira?"

"Aye?"

"Were you planning on taking the Gym Challenge?"

"O' coorse, bit dinnae a neit tae get a sponsorship tae tak part?"

Taking a moment to translate her accent, Oliver realized there was that hiccup. But then he smiled and waved his hand in the air again. "Don't worry. We should be able to get Professor Pine to help us with that. She lives in Searrow, the next town over. My old babysitter Scarlet works for her, and she's still a friend of the family. She'll vouch for us. Tell you what, I'll give her a call," he added, pulling his phone (a year-old Rotom phone) out of his pocket.

"That's guid tae hear. Whit's yer champion lik'?"

"Oh, Raleigh? She's awesome! She became the champ six years ago and hasn't lost a match since."

"Soonds kinda lik' Galar's auld champion Leon. He ne'er lost a match 'til some bairn cried Gloria teuk him doon a peg."

"We need to work on that accent," Oliver said as he unlocked his phone. Moira looked like she was about to fire back when Oliver got a strange look on his face. He tapped on the phone's screen, read something to himself, and suddenly the color drained from his face.

"Whit's wrong?"

Oliver turned the phone around so Moira could see. It was opened to a news article on the internet. She read the headline and gave a low whistle.

"Holy sh**e…"

* * *

__LEAGUE CHAMPION ANNOUNCES EARLY RETIREMENT!__

__Raleigh Gardener, age 27, has just announced that she intends to step down from her position as the champion of the Allanza Region's Pokemon League. After becoming champion, Raleigh successfully defended her title for six years without suffering a single loss.__

_"___I understand a lot of my fans will be surprised, and quite frankly, upset by my decision," she stated, "But I feel like I already hit my peak, and I just don't get the same satisfaction out of victory anymore. I believe my own team feels the same as well. Besides, I feel like the Gym Challenge could do with some fresh blood."__

__When asked if she plans to retire from Pokemon training altogether, Raleigh affirmed that she does not intend to do so, though she expressed doubt she would take part in many official events in the future.__

__This announcement was made just two weeks before the start of this year's Gym Challenge, so it can be expected that the number of applicants will be much higher than the past few years. The Elite Four, the other four trainers who manage to place in the finals in every year's tournament, could not be reached for comment.__

* * *

_**I had a Pokémon story bouncing around my head for a long time, and with Pokémon Sword and Shield finally out I finally decided to give it a go. I wrote a rough, rough, INCREDIBLY rough version of this story a while back, but I think I have improved since then.**_

_**In case you're wondering, the Allanza region is loosely based on my own home territory, the southwestern United States- specifically Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and a bit of Salt Lake City for good measure.**_


	2. Graduation Day

The next two weeks passed by in a blur. Oliver was already excited to become an official trainer but the announcement of Raleigh's stepping down kicked it into high gear. Not only would Oliver become a Pokemon Trainer just in time for this year's Gym Challenge, but he'd actually have a shot at the title now that Raleigh had stepped down. Well, there WAS the little hurdle of the Elite Four, plus all the other trainers who had the same thought, but never mind that.

In the intervening time, Oliver and Moira had spent some time practicing. Oliver didn't have a license yet, so while Ralts and Joltik were ostensibly his Pokemon, they were considered to belong to the entire Clairmont household for legal purposes. That didn't stop Moira from showing Oliver a few things. She did have some experience as a trainer herself, after all, though every time Oliver asked her to elaborate on the specifics of her "career" she tended to dodge the question.

It was a couple days before the big day when Moira's father pulled him aside. "A juist wantit tae thank ye for bein' Moira's friend syne we movit here," he said. The man was absolutely massive but his eyes were full of light and kindness. "Ye ken howfur abrasive she kin be, she hud a trachle getting alang wi' fowk back in oor auld steid. It means a lot tae us that ye stuck wi' her."

"Oh, it's, uh, it's nothing really, sir," Oliver responded. Even though Moira had been working on toning down her thick accent, Oliver had grown accustomed to that West Galarian brogue of her family's.

Mr. Taylor simply laughed and ruffled the kid's hair. "Thir's na reason tae be sae formal, laddie. Ye twa aren't even dating yit." He had himself another good chuckle at Oliver's inarticulate stammering.

Finally, the third of May arrived, and with it, Oliver's fourteenth birthday. He woke up two hours before his alarm went off that day (because really, what kind of moron sleeps in on the day they officially become a Pokemon Trainer?) and because of her nature as an empath, Ralts was prematurely woken up, much to her annoyance. Joltik remained sound asleep though.

Eventually his mother woke up and, after wishing him a happy birthday, got to work making him his favorite breakfast- Kalosian Toast with more cinnamon than was probably healthy. Oliver was about halfway through his meal when Moira showed up. After she gave him a birthday present (a trade paperback collection of _Crobatman and Fletchling_) the two of them decided to play a few rounds of Pokken Tournament.

Finally there was a knock at the door. "That's probably her," Oliver said, shutting off his Switch and following his mother, who went to answer it.

She opened the door. "Oh, Scarlet! It's been too long! So you're the test proctor?"

"I sure am. Professor Pine let me handle it myself," Scarlet responded in a calm yet simultaneously cheerful voice. Scarlet Willow was five years Oliver's elder, a full foot taller than him and with an air of stoic confidence about her. She was dark-skinned with chocolate brown eyes and red hair tied back into a long, thick braid that went down to about the middle of her back. She was wearing a light brown sun hat, a black shirt dress and black knee-length boots.

Beside her was Cassandra, which was what Scarlet named her Absol. The white-furred Dark-type Pokemon looked like any other Absol except for the white bandage wrapped around her large black horn.

Oliver's mom crouched down and pet Cassandra, who simply purred in response. "I see you're looking well too, Cassandra. But Scarlet, why are _you _the one giving the test? I thought-"

"I know, but this isn't a real battle. It's just an exam." It was then that Oliver and Moira walked up to the front door. Oliver had on his backpack, out of which Ralt's head was sticking out. Scarlet looked over to the bespectacled 14-year-old. "So, you and your Pokemon ready to go?"

"Yeah, I'm ready whenev- oh wait, I still need to wake up Joltik!"

He started to turn to go retrieve Joltik, before Ralts hopped out of her roost, held up a finger, and waddled up the stairs to retrieve the bug herself.

"So, Oliver," Scarlet began, "This is Moira?"

"That I am! It's nice tae make yer acquaintance," Moira replied cheerfully. "So how is the test going tae go anyhow?"

"Well, to sum up, Oliver is supposed to beat me in a 2-on-2 Pokemon battle where I'll be using two Pokemon that belong two the Trainer School. He already took the written test a few weeks ago."

"There was also an interview I had to do," Oliver cut in, "To make sure I was actually qualified. Felt like I was being interrogated."

"Really? Back in Galar ah just kind o' got mah first Pokemon 'n' just started battling. The age was lower too."

"I can't speak for Galar, but in Allanza, we had to make the requirements a bit stricter once all that gang violence over in Orre started."

It was around that time when Ralts waddled back over with the Joltik in tow. Oliver opened up the backpack and set it on the ground. "Morning, Joltik! We gotta get going for the exam now, I think I have a AA battery lying around in the bag somewhere."

Joltik crawled in and Ralts hopped back in. Moira raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Scarlet turned to leave. "All right, let's head to the training field. You can come too, if you want, Moira." The Galarian lass nodded, and the three and their Pokemon headed off.

* * *

"So, Oliver, why the f**k ye dinnae just use a Pokeball?" Moira finally asked as the three left the residential area of Shorevul Town to a more open area. The path they walked on was surrounded on both sides by yellowish brush, where you could see the odd wild Spearow or Ledyba out and about, doing their thing, likely deterred from trying to attack the trio by the Absol that was with them.

Scarlet looked like she was about to react to the expletive but Oliver responded first.

"Well, Ralts isn't really all that heavy, and I'd feel kinda guilty keeping them couped up in Pokeballs all the time," he explained.

"You know you probably won't be able to use the backpack once they evolve," Scarlet observed.

"IF they evolve," Oliver countered. "I mean, the Indigo League Champion made it without evolving his Pikachu, right?"

"That's just a myth and you know it."

"Yeah, well…" Oliver continued, his voice getting a little lower, "There's also Joltik…"

Scarlet's eyes widened slightly and she nodded her head. "Right. Yeah. Forgot about that. Sorry"

Moira was confused again. "What's wrong with Joltik?"

"Oh. Oliver's family adopted Joltik from a shelter after he was rescued," Scarlet began. "His original trainer released him, but evidently, it and the Galvantula out in the wild… didn't really… get along."

Moira's fair complexion went even whiter as her mind filled in the blanks.

"And sometime after we took him in," Oliver continued, "we realized he was absolutely terrified of Galvantula. So it's safe to say he doesn't want to evolve into one of those things." Cassandra simply mewed softly, having met Joltik before.

Eventually the three arrived at the Trainer School, a humble little establishment with a nearby court with a Pokeball symbol painted on the ground and surrounded on all sides by chain-link fence. What Moira noticed, however, was that the makeshift arena had scratch marks and even what looked like melting bits of ice on it.

"Oh, by the way, I think Amber had her exam just before yours. She's probably inside the building getting her paperwork finalized."

Oliver huffed. "Of course she is."

Before Moira could inquire as to who this Amber was, they had arrived at their destination. Oliver and Scarlet (and Cassandra, though she wasn't participating, she just wanted to stick close to Scarlet) took their respective sides of the court, Oliver setting the bag down just outside of it. Ralts and Joltik stepped out. Moira, meanwhile, stepped off to the side, where she took the two Pokeballs out of her pocket and let Sobble and Wooloo out. "Pay attention, everybody. Ye finally get tae see Oliver's gang in action." Sobble touched its little fingers together nervously as his eyes darted between the two combatants. Wooloo looked to be hyping herself up for the show to begin.

Scarlet took a Pokeball out of her dress and clicked the button on it. "You ready for the exam to begin?"

Oliver adjusted his glasses with a smirk. "I was born ready." With that, he enthusiastically pointed his finger into the air. "Go, Ralts!" The little Psychic Pokemon jumped into the arena.

Scarlet wound up and threw the ball. "Go, Rockruff!" The ball released a red burst of light as the little brown puppy landed on all fours, growling.

"Rockruff, use Bite!" Scarlet shouted as she held out her hand. The little Rock-type dog dashed forward towards Ralts.

"Not if we can help it! Ralts, use Charm!" Ralts tilted her head up, allowing her normally covered eyes to be visible as she put her hand on her cheek and smiled endearingly at Rockruff. The puppy's aggression shattered and the Bite that ended up hitting her was more of a nibble than anything else.

Oliver smiled. "Now hit 'em back with Disarming Voice!"

The cute, watery gaze morphed into a determined smirk as Ralts' horn began to glow. "Raaa!" she vocalized, and though the cry itself was fairly weak, it was magnified by a glow of pulsing pink energy that shot out and knocked Rockruff off its prey.

Moira cheered, as did Wooloo, who let out a hearty __baaa__. Sobble merely smiled and weakly threw its own hand in the air. "Go Ralts! Shoe that wee b**** what-for!" Moira shouted, then paused and touched her chin in contemplation at what she just said. "...wait, is the pup female?"

Scarlet tried her best to ignore her. "Rockruff! Sand-Attack!"

Rockruff shook off its disorientation and complied, kicking some dirt into Ralts' face.

"Now use Tackle!"

"Ralts, try to hit him with Confusion!" Ralts stopped in the middle of clearing the sand out of her eyes and flung a hunk of psychic energy at the dog, but her aim was off. Rockruff easily dashed around it and slammed into Ralts head-on, knocking her away a couple feet.

"Nice hit, Rockruff! Now use Howl to get your attack power back up!"

Rockruff did so, but as it did, Oliver clenched his fist. "Now's your chance to try Confusion again!"

Ralts still couldn't see clearly, but the loud howling made it much easier to hit her mark. This time, Rockruff didn't evade the purplish cloud of energy, which immediately surrounded its head and burst in a flash of light. The Rock-type stumbled, clearly disoriented.

"C'mon, you can shake it off! Try for another Bite!"

Rockruff, though, was still clearly dizzy from the effects of Confusion, and bit down on where it thought Ralts was, but instead tripped and fell over.

Oliver held his hand out again. "One more attack like that and he's down for the count! One more Confusion!"

Just like the last one, Ralts' Psychic attack hit its downed target head-on. Rockruff stumbled weakly before passing out, unconscious. Moira and Wooloo cheered again. Scarlet withdrew the fainted Pokemon and pocketed the ball. She pulled out a different one and tossed it out as well. "Go! Pawniard!"

The little spiky helmeted Steel/Dark-type emerged from the red flash of light and glared at Ralts menacingly, swinging its bladed arm for intimidation. Oliver considered his opponent's next Pokemon. __Of course, she brought a Rock-type to deal with Joltik and a Steel-type to handle Ralts. Well, before I switch her out, I may as well soften Pawniard up a bit.__ "Ralts! Use Hypnosis!" Ralts held its hands out, a beam seemingly made of glowing rings shooting out towards Pawniard.

"Pawniard, use Metal Claw!" Pawniard dashed forward, leaping out of the way of Hypnosis and slicing its claws into Ralts, who let out a small cry of pain as she took damage.

Off to the side, Sobble was having a hard time watching Ralts get sliced and looked away. As opposed to Wooloo, who was getting really into the display of violence. Moira simply gasped. She had never seen Ralts in action before, and seeing the cute little gal get hit with a super-effective hit wasn't very fun.

Oliver grimaced. __Crap, this isn't good! I was really hoping that Hypnosis would land! I gotta make a decision, quick!__

"One more Metal Claw, Pawniard!"

"Ralts, try to use Hypnosis again! You can do it!"

Ralts' pain was temporarily overridden by the wave of encouragement, amplified by her own empathic abilities, and she let loose another wave of hypnosis at the charging Pawniard. This time, Pawniard didn't react in time and grew drowsy before falling asleep standing up.

Moira sighed in relief as Oliver pumped his fist in triumph, then called out to his injured, exhausted Pokemon. "Great work, Ralts! Come back! Time for you to tag in, Joltik!"

Ralts limped over to the bag as Joltik sprang out and began sparking as Pawniard seemed to start stirring. Pawniard was already a pretty small Pokemon, and seeing how tiny Joltik was in comparison really put into perspective just how miniscule the little bug really was.

"Joltik, use Electroweb, then follow up with Bug Bite!" Oliver shouted, while Ralts weakly cheered from the sidelines. Joltik leaped into the air and launched a strand of electrified silk from its body.

"Dodge it!" Scarlet shouted, but Pawniard woke up too late, as the web wrapped around it and began shocking it. Scarlet grunted in frustration. "Cut through it and Joltik with Slash!" Mustering the effort through its electrical shocks, Pawniard sliced through the web and, with its other blade, tried to swipe at the rapidly approaching Joltik, who easily dodged it thanks to its small size.

Joltik then proceeded to zip around Pawniard at a rapid pace, biting him all over, with Pawniard flinching the whole time, looking rather dazed. Steel may be tough against Bug-type attacks, but Pawniard was also part Dark-type, so the resistance was cancelled out and Bug Bite still did a number on the guy.

Finally, Joltik leapt off of Pawniard, who was starting to go off-balance.

Scarlet pointed her finger at Joltik. "Pawniard, hit back with… uh… Pawniard?" Scarlet stopped halfway through her command and lowered her hand when she realized Pawniard was starting to tip over slightly before its balance went completely.

CLANK!

The Steel/Dark-type fell over onto the ground with a loud metallic sound, completely unconscious. Oliver cheered, as did Ralts. They had won! Oliver pulled a Potion out of the backpack and applied the medicine to Ralts, who sighed in relief as the pain wore off somewhat and her injuries started to fade.

"Ye really showed her, Oliver! Way to go!" Moira cheered, as Sobble looked relieved and Wooloo hopped up and down, just as ecstatic as her trainer.

Scarlet withdrew Pawniard and smiled. She walked towards the center, Oliver taking it as his cue to do the same, brimming with excitement all the while.

Once they had arrived at the middle of the court, the two shook hands.

"Congratulations, Oliver. As of today, you are now officially recognized as a Pokemon Trainer."

__clap__

__clap__

__clap__

The three trainers and their Pokemon turned towards the clapping, which was coming from the direction of the main building of the school. Towards them walked a girl about Oliver's age with platinum blonde hair in a pixie cut, with ocean-blue eyes projecting an attitude of condescension. She wore a gold-colored vest over a white long-sleeved shirt and a black miniskirt.

Oliver glared at the new arrival. "Fancy seeing you here, Amber."

Amber crossed her arms in front of her chest, smirking. "That performance wasn't really worth applause, but considering you won that with a team of hand-me-downs," she said, tilting her nose into the air, "I guess I'm a __little__ impressed."


	3. Emotions Running Wild

_"Amber! I wanna show you something!" Oliver shouted, making his entrance to the park at top speed, his glasses looking comically large on the 8-year-old's face._

_Amber, wearing a simple white dress, turned around at the noise, then scoffed. "What do YOU want?"_

_"I got my own Pokémon!" he proudly proclaimed._

_Now this got Amber's attention. "But you're only 8! You can't have one yet, can you?"_

_"I can't _battle_ yet, but I can still keep it."_

_Genuinely curious, Amber fully turned around to face him. "All right, show me."_

_Oliver turned around. "Come on out, little guy." Joltik shyly crawled out from behind Oliver's left shoulder and perched itself on its new master, looking around itself nervously. Oliver crossed his arms smugly. "Bet you're pretty jealous, huh?"_

_To his shock, Amber burst out laughing. "What, that thing? Why would I be jealous of that? It's so tiny and so _common_! They're basically everywhere!"_

_Joltik dejectedly crawled off Oliver's shoulder and down into one of his pockets. Oliver glanced down at the offended bug-type and glared at Amber. "Oh look, Amber, you hurt his feelings. Just because they're common doesn't mean they're not cool!"_

_"Yeah, whatever," Amber said, turning to leave, having lost interest. "Have fun winning any battles with that thing."_

_Oliver glowered at her as she walked off. "I'll show you," he muttered under his breath. "Joltik's a great Pokémon! And I'll be a great trainer with him one day... "_

* * *

The new arrival strode casually towards Oliver with a look of superiority in her eyes.

"What do you want?" Oliver asked, sounding quite annoyed.

"Oh, I just got done with my paperwork to get my license and I heard some fighting going on. I see you're still using your team of leftovers, eh?"

"Joke's on you, I DOMINATED the exam!"

"Oliver, that's not really that much of an accomplishment," Amber chided, wagging her finger. "Most kids aren't going to luck out and have one of their own before the test, and they usually have to borrow one. The test was meant to be beaten by common Pokémon like Oddish or Machop or whatever."

Scarlet rolled her eyes, having borne witness to similar exchanges multiple times over. It was then that Moira decided to remind those around her that she existed. "Pardon me, Scarlet," she said to the older trainer, "Whit the f*** is her problem?"

"Her dad was a famous Pokémon trainer back in the day, and her mom comes from a rich family. The two were classmates for the longest time, but most of that time they were rivals."

Moira nodded, then turned back to the two who had just gotten their licenses. Wooloo was glaring at Amber. Sobble, meanwhile, could tell something was afoot and opted to retreat back to his ball.

"You know what, Oliver?" Amber said, with a mildly feral look that looked out of place on a girl as rich as she was, "You keep going on about how you'll make your team of leftovers strong, but why don't we put that to the test?" She produced a Pokéball. "Let's have a battle, right here, right now. Your ragtag bunch against the Pokémon that won me the exam."

As Moira began to clench her fists, deciding that she really didn't like this girl, Oliver turned back to Scarlet. "Hey Scarlet, is that okay? I haven't actually gotten the physical license yet."

Scarlet considered for a moment, then shrugged. "I don't see why not. If there's a problem, I'll vouch for you."

Oliver smiled, turned back to Amber, and adjusted his glasses. It wasn't a smirk. He had a look of genuine anticipation. "Fine by me. It only makes sense that our first real match is against each other."

It was then that Moira noticed that Amber only had the one Pokéball on her. _That means she ainlie used th' ane for th' exam_. She smiled. _Na maiter how guid her Pokémon is, Oliver has two on his gang, sae he'll be able tae outlast her easily._

"Though I'm only going to use Joltik. Ralts can sit this one out."

_A'm sorry, whit?_

Ralts looked disappointed, but not surprised, and waddled off to where Scarlet and Cassadra. The small Psychic-type plopped down near the Absol, arms crossed, and Cassandra gave her a sympathetic look. Wooloo tilted its head at Oliver, confused.

"You sure?" Amber chimed in. "I mean, I didn't just go out and catch any old Pokémon. I got her from a professional breeder. You'll need all the help you can get."

Oliver shook his head. "I'll pass. Even if Ralts wasn't tired from those hits she took from Pawniard, a 2-on-1 just wouldn't be fair."

"Suit yourself," Amber shrugged, evidently not too concerned with talking Oliver out of his plan.

And with that, the two took their places on opposite sides of the arena.

Oliver turned to face Amber and held out his hand. "Go, Joltik!" The Bug/Electric-type again jumped into the center of the battlefield

Amber smirked, producing a Pokéball. "Allow me to show you what a REAL trainer uses. Go, Vulpix!" She tossed her Pokéball and it released a burst of red light.

Moira recognized Vulpix from her home region, so she was caught off-guard that the little six-tailed fox, rather than being a light orange-pinkish color, was instead a bluish white with poofier tails.

Scarlet sensed Moira's confusion. "It's an Alolan breed," she explained. "They live at a higher altitude and evolved to become Ice-types in order to adapt."

Oliver made the first move. "Joltik, slow her down with Electroweb!" Joltik launched another burst of electrified web at his vulpine adversary.

"Vulpix, use Hail!" Amber ordered. Before the web reached her, Vulpix's tails began glowing blue and the little Ice-type let out a small cry, causing the temperature to go down significantly as small chunks of ice began to fall from above. This did nothing to stop Electroweb from connecting, though, and the electricity began shocking Vulpix.

Oliver smiled. The battle was already going in his favor. Hail was a common tactic among users of Ice-type Pokémon, and though it posed a threat to non-Ice-types, Vulpix had taken a hit to her speed and Joltik would be more than capable of taking her down in this state.

His smile faded when the hail began to come down full force and Vulpix began to shimmer and fade out as though she was a mirage. _That can't be good_, he thought. Nonetheless, he couldn't let up now. "Nice hit, Joltik! Now use Bug Bite!"

Joltik charged forward, zigzagging to avoid the incoming hail and jumped towards Vulpix to bite her.

"Vulpix, use Agility! Shake those webs off and dodge that attack!"

Vulpix rapidly spun around, seeming to glow a weak red as she did so, getting some of her mobility back.

Joltik leapt at Vulpix, but wound up missing Vulpix completely. The hail wasn't really the issue, as Joltik's compound eyes could circumvent the illusion. But combined with Vulpix's burst of speed from Agility, she'd be tough to hit.

Oliver caught a glimpse of the Vulpix and noted, to his dismay, that Electroweb hadn't managed to do all that much damage. "Go for another Electroweb!" Oliver shouted to Joltik, who nodded and began to spark with electricity.

"You got your speed back, hit him with Icy Wind first!" Vulpix opened her mouth and blew, launching a cloud of icy mist that flew straight towards Joltik right as he was about to let loose another web. The wind passed right over Joltik, who went completely rigid.

Oliver grunted, clenching his teeth. "C'mon, Joltik, you can shake it off! T-try Electroweb again!"

Unfortunately, not only was Joltik's attack speed significantly lowered, but the shivering bug was now a sitting target for the incoming hail.

"Let's finish this, girl! Use Moonblast!"

Oliver's eyes widened as Vulpix pointed her nose to the sky and a bright pinkish ball of energy began to build up. _I didn't realize Vulpix could be bred with that move!_ The energy flowed down into Vulpix, who launched it forward at Joltik, and the sphere burst into a blinding flash of light. Oliver had to cover his eyes, as did Moira and Scarlet. Wooloo curled into a ball to hide from the light.

A couple seconds later, the light had faded, and Oliver and the others could see again. The sky was clear again, the hail was gone, and there was a very unconscious Joltik lying on Oliver's side of the field.

"Well, you said you'd only use your one Pokémon, so I guess that makes me the winner," Amber said with a smirk as she withdrew Vulpix back into a Pokéball.

Oliver sighed. "Yeah, I guess I did." Reluctantly, he pulled a Pokéball out of his own pocket and recalled Joltik, who disappeared into the ball in a flash of red light. Ralts had evidently got over her disappointment and went over to Oliver, patting his leg gently.

Amber smirked. "It must suck, losing your first ever official battle. How's it feel? No seriously, tell me. I really want to know. I don't think I'll ever know for myself, after all."

From off to the side, Moira started shaking, fists clenched and fully prepared to rip Amber a new one, no Pokémon battle needed. She took a step forward before Scarlet shot a glare her way. Moira reluctantly stepped back, glaring at the ground. Wooloo resumed Moira's post of glaring at the spoiled brat.

Moira wasn't really all that bothered by Amber's insults and rubbing her victory in her friend's face. Well okay, she was, in actuality, quite peeved about that, but what upset her more was that Oliver was just sitting there and taking it. _Surely ye know how tae fire back, richt?_

"Look, this was my loss. There's no need to rub it in. Still, for what it's worth," Oliver said, holding out his right hand for a handshake, "That was a great battle."

"Tch," Amber scoffed and walked right past him. Oliver lowered his hand, sighing again.

Scarlet shook her head. "You're too chivalrous for your own good," she uttered under her breath.

Amber was almost to the gate when she suddenly stopped and turned around. "Oh yeah, you weren't thinking about trying for the Gym Challenge, were you?" Before Oliver could even respond, she continued "Don't bother answering. Every trainer in Allanza's gonna be taking the challenge now that the Champion isn't around to beat them at the end, so of _course_ you are. Let me give you some advice that'll save you some time. _Don't bother_. You'll never make it past the first Gym. Heck, you probably won't make it TO the first Gym. Not with your weakling of a Joltik, and especially not with your Ralts no one else wanted."

Oliver and Ralts both flinched as though punched in the gut. Amber, satisfied with her work, turned and left the premises.

No one said anything for a moment or two. Scarlet finally seemed to get her voice back and turned to Moira. "Hey, uh, I still need to do the actual paperwork for Oliver's license. Moira, could you take Joltik over to the Pokémon Center while we work on that?"

Moira nodded, taking the ball from Oliver and turning to leave. Scarlet beckoned Oliver to follow her into the school building proper. Oliver didn't say a word.

* * *

The waiting room of the Pokémon Center was designed to evoke comfort. The soft red patterns on the white walls were a comforting sight, with the orange sofas sparsely populated with trainers waiting on their Pokémon, who were being treated. Moira was sitting on the sofa nearest the front desk, casually leafing through a magazine when she heard the automatic door at the front entrance slide open.

In walked Oliver, Scarlet, and their respective Pokémon. Oliver was definitely in a much better mood now, but still didn't look as confident as he had been in the morning. Moira waved to them and they walked to where she was sitting.

"Dinnae keep me in suspense, let me see it!" Oliver smiled and held out his card. It was dark green, as he was allowed to pick whatever color he wanted, and green was his favorite color. The photo of him had a somewhat serious look on his face when he normally probably would've been giving a confident smirk (Scarlet assured Oliver he'd be able to retake the photo later) and his other information- his Trainer ID, date of birth, et cetera- neatly laid out to the right of it.

"Weel done," Moira said with a smile, which definitely cheered Oliver up.

"Look, I-I'm not going to let what she said get to me." Oliver readjusted his glasses. "I'm taking the Gym Challenge and making it to the tournament if it's the last thing I do."

Moira chuckled at Oliver's declaration. Then her smile faded, "Actually, a've bin thinking sin ah git 'ere," she said, which prompted Scarlet to raise an eyebrow and Oliver to brace himself.

"If ye dinnae mynd me asking, whit Amber said... Whit's th' deal wi' Ralts anyway?"

Oliver didn't say anything for a bit, and sighed. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "I guess there's no harm in telling you. It was when I was 9. We'd had Joltik for a year, and we were visiting my uncle, who runs a Pokémon Day Care service over on Route 9…"

* * *

_"How's my favorite nephew doing?" Uncle Brandon said, ruffling Oliver's hair as his mother looked on in amusement. Brandon had short, messy black hair, the same as Oliver and his mother (Brandon's brother) wasn't an especially tall man, nor was he really that large, but he definitely had a force of personality that made up for it. "And Joltik looks like he's doing a lot better," he said. "Looks like he's grown a couple millimeters since last I saw him!" Joltik blushed at the attention he was getting._

_"Nice to see you again, Brandon," Oliver's mother called as she entered the Day Care just behind her over-eager son, giving her brother (who was about half a foot shorter than her) a hug._

_"Nice seeing you too, Harley," he responded. After breaking the hug, he turned back to face Oliver. "You want me to show you around the place?"_

_"Do I!" Oliver responded enthusiastically. Chuckling, Brandon put his hand on his nephew's shoulder and led him through the Day Care on an impromptu tour._

_Brandon showed him around the place where the Pokémon that were left there were staying, playing, and scuffling with one another. Oliver got to see some Pokémon he hadn't seen before, at least not in person. He was a curious child, bombarding his uncle with questions on how everything worked. Brandon was in the middle of giving the stock excuse that "no one knows just where the eggs come from" before realizing Oliver wasn't with him anymore._

_He panicked, hoping he hadn't gotten too close to that Scolipede that one trainer was trying to breed, and luckily Oliver wasn't anywhere close to any of those bigger, scarier Pokémon. Instead he was looking at a corner of the play area, looking down at a- oh. _Oh.

_"Oliver?"_

_Oliver turned around with big, sad eyes. "Uncle Brandon? What… what's this little white-and-green Pokémon and why's it crying?"_

_Brandon looked between Oliver and the crying Ralts. "Oh… that's a Ralts. It's a Psychic/Fairy-type from Hoenn. It just hatched a few days ago."_

_"Well… where's its trainer?"_

_"Her trainer… well, he left a Gardevoir- its evolved form- here with a Ditto to try to, uh, make some eggs that would hatch into powerful Pokémon he could train for battle. We hatched two eggs. He took one of them, but said the other wasn't strong enough for him and he just… left her here."_

_Oliver was shocked. "That's horrible!" Without a second thought, he turned back to the distressed Pokémon and walked over to her, sitting down beside her._

_"R-Ralts, right?" The Psychic Pokémon flinched and turned her attention to the new arrival. "I-I'm sorry you got left here," he said. "I know your trainer said you were weak, but that's not true. You can be just as strong as any Pokémon." Truth be told, Ralts couldn't understand human speech (she was only a few days old after all) but her empathic powers let his kindness and encouragement wash over her, and she did something she hadn't done since the day she was born: She smiled._

_Oliver reached over to pet Ralts's green hair, causing Ralts to make small contented sounds not dissimilar to purring, which got stronger when Joltik leapt down from his perch on Oliver's shoulder and started nuzzling her too._

_The boy turned his head back to his mother and uncle, who were watching the display unfold. "C-can we take her home with us? Pleeeease?"_

* * *

"...Of course they couldn't say no. We put her in a Pokéball at first, but keeping her couped up in one of those just didn't feel right to me. And, well, me, Ralts, and Joltik have been really close ever since."

"It's true," Scarlet added, crossing her arms over her chest, a look of fond reminiscence on her face. "I actually babysat for the family the day they got back. He and Ralts were inseperable, even then. Honestly, he was the sweetest kid I ever met."

"Ah kin believe that," she said as Oliver blushed from what Scarlet had just said._ An' it doesn't seem lik' that's changed much ower th' years._ She looked at Ralts, who was napping contentedly in the backpack. "Whit Amber said wis uncallt for. Yer team will dae juist fine."

Oliver smiled again. He was about to reply when the familiar jingle rang over the intercom.

_Ding ding ding-ding ding!_

_Ms. Moira Taylor? The Joltik you brought in has fully recovered. Please come to the front desk to pick him up._

She stood up and the three (plus Cassandra) went up to the front desk. They retrieved Joltik (Oliver bent over backwards apologizing for letting him get knocked out while Joltik tried to convey it wasn't a big deal) and as they went outside and back on the road to Oliver's place, the three were in generally high spirits.

After all, the day might have been an emotional rollercoaster, but there was still Oliver's birthday party to look forward to.

* * *

_**Fun fact: In my older draft of the story I wrote years ago, the first battle between Oliver and Amber played out basically the exact opposite. In that original version, Oliver DID use both of his Pokémon against Amber, but he felt like it was a hollow victory afterwards. I changed it up because I felt it better communicated Oliver as someone who sabotages himself with his insistence on fair play.**_

_**Incidentally, due to a review I got a while back I guess I have to clarify: Oliver sabotaging himself in the name of "fairness" is a character flaw for him to overcome. I thought I made that clear. Evidently not.**_

_**Also, as we start getting into the meat of the story, I'd really appreciate if you left comments. I don't have a lot of experience writing fanfic, so I'd like to hear what you guys think, and honestly, hearing feedback gives me most of my motivation to write. Special thanks to heeldigger for your review, I really appreciated reading it.**_

_**Edit: A reviewer on another website pointed out that Joltik's Compound Eyes would have canceled out Snow Cloak. I adjusted the chapter in response.**_


	4. A Journey of 1000 Miles

Calling it a birthday "party" was pretty generous. After Scarlet dropped them off, Oliver and Moira had some cake (a pretty standard chocolate cake) and spent the rest of the night playing Mario Kart while Oliver's mother and Moira's parents played a board game in the other room. Moira's mother was also built like a brick, much like her father. Oliver found it somewhat odd that the parents were so well-built while Moira and her brother were nowhere near as big as they were.

It was getting late, and Oliver and Moira were in the backyard chatting, and generally just enjoying the other's company, letting their Pokémon play with each other. The backyard wasn't too big, and the lawn was barely holding on (Allanza isn't exactly chilly) but the Pokémon were rather small. Even Wooloo, the largest among them, was considerably shorter than both of the trainers. It was Moira's idea, hoping to get Sobble to open up a bit more.

One thing Moira noticed, though, was that she was the only one here, Well, and the parents, but no one else was here at the party. Scarlet said she would've come but she was needed at Professor Pine's lab.

"So the openin' ceremony of the Gym Challenge is at... Neoshine, is it? Where is that from here? We'll only have three days tae get thare."

"Oh, not far at all. We just need to head east up Route 1, pass through Searrow Town, then head north up Route 2." He leaned back in his chair, smiling. "Shouldn't take us long to get there at all."

Moira couldn't help but crack a smile of her own in return. After Oliver's battle with Amber and the aftermath, it was nice to see him in a good mood again. She decided to look over to see how the Pokémon were enjoying themselves. Joltik and Wooloo were having a good time playing something resembling tag, and Ralts appeared to be chatting it up with Sobble. Moira chuckled. "By the way, how hard was it tae get Professor Pine to endorse us?"

Oliver blinked. Then his skin paled. "Ah crap," he croaked out. "I forgot to actually call Professor Pine about getting sponsored."

Moira whirled to face him, a shocked look crossing her own face. "Ye WHAT!? Ah thought ye called her that day when we met!"

Oliver held out his hands in a defensive motion. "I know, I know, I was going to, but then I heard about the champion stepping down, and I got distracted, and then I completely forgot!"

__Fer two whole weeks?! __"What the f***, Oliver?"

"Look," Oliver continued, hoping to calm her down. "Pine lives in Searrow, just down Route 1, it's like a two hour walk. We still have plenty of time to-"

"Hou the f*** coud ye juist forget somethin like thon for twa whole weeks, ye daft bleeding baw juggler?! Hou f***in' stupid can ye be?!" Moira snapped, slipping back into her native accent, massaging her forehead in frustration.

After a moment, Moira suddenly realized Oliver hadn't said anything in response. She looked back up at him and he had the expression of someone who'd been punched in the gut. In fact, he seemed to be on the verge of tears.

She turned her head back towards the Pokémon. Wooloo didn't seem to hear, nor did Joltik or Sobble. However, Ralts was staring right at her. If her eyes were visible, Ralts's gaze likely would've drilled into her soul.

Moira blinked a couple times before what she said caught up with her. She gasped, putting her hand to her mouth in shock. __Oh sh**! Why do I keep doin' this?! __"O-Oliver, I…"

"No, no, you're right," Oliver said, clearly upset. "It was my fault for forgetting. That's my bad."

Moira shook her head furiously. "Na, Oliver, wait, A dinnae think ye're an idiot, A'm really sorry I said that. I'm mad that ye forgot but-"

"No, I get it. I, I have a pretty bad habit of getting distracted and forgetting stuff that should be blindingly obvious. You don't have to sugarcoat it. I've been like this since I was a kid."

"Ah dinnae really think you're an idiot, Oliver," Moira said, uncharacteristically softly.

"I-I know that, but I still screwed up big time. I'm really sorry."

__He's just as worried about ruining our friendship as I am! __"Ye said it yourself, we still have time tae fix this. Ye messed up, aye, but so does everyone else. I'm the one who stepped out o' line and called ye an idiot."

"I already told you, I know you didn't mean it."

"How can ye be so sure?"

Oliver sighed. "I've been thinking about what your dad told me the other day."

_"___A juist wantit tae thank ye for bein' Moira's friend syne we movit here. Ye ken howfur abrasive she kin be, she hud a trachle getting alang wi' fowk back in oor auld steid." __

__Translation: I just wanted to thank you for being Moira's friend since we moved here. You know how abrasive she can be, she had a real hard time getting along with folks back at our old home. __

"Truth be told, I've been wondering why you had such a hard time back in Galar. I mean, sure you got a pottymouth-"

"Hey!"

"-But you seemed pretty nice, if a bit loud at times. But… I think I get it now. You don't have a problem saying whatever's on your mind. And I like that about you, I really do. But then you get wrapped up in the heat of the moment, a-and you say things you don't mean. I'm guessing this probably happened to you before?"

Moira nodded, starting to tear up herself. "Aye…"

Oliver looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry you had to put up with that. I-I still want to be your friend. I know how it feels to not have many friends."

This was news to Moira. "Ye dinnae have friends? How is that even possible? A mean, a know ye can be a wee bit scatterbrained but you're probably the nicest lad I've met in a good long while."

Oliver looked away, not saying much for a moment. Then he answered with one simple word:

"Amber."

Moira blinked. That's right, he and Amber had a history together. But she didn't see what that had to do with-

__Wait. __

__Oh. __

__Oooooooh. __

__Amber's rich. She'd have to be to get that Vulpix specially bred. And she's not exactly ugly either. She would've have been a real popular lass at their school. An if she doesn't like Oliver… __

Oliver could see the gears turning in her head. "I mean, it's not all bad. I mean, I have my Pokémon. A-and Scarlet still comes by occasionally."

"That still isn't fair that ye got left out like that. Ye deserve better."

"So do you."

The two didn't say much for a moment or two. There wasn't really a whole lot to say after that. Ralts's implied glare seemed to let up, and Sobble (who had taken notice of the conversation a while ago) waited with apprehension for what would happen next.

Oliver offered Moira a hand. "So, uh… we still friends?"

Moira looked at the outstretched hand for a moment, but didn't shake it.

Rather, she opted to just hug him instead.

Off to the side, Ralts breathed a sigh of relief. Wooloo and Joltik still didn't notice but Sobble did, as he had been watching to see what got Ralts so upset about.

Oliver was completely unprepared for this, and awkwardly returned the hug. Moira giggled in an uncharacteristically feminine manner.

"Aye," she said. "Still friends."

Unfortunately, the moment was ruined when Moira's parents came outside to get her, took one look at the hugging teenagers, and wasted no time relentlessly teasing the two.

* * *

There they stood, two fledgling trainers. One had a little bit of experience, the other was out on the road on his own for the first time. Just them and their Pokémon, and the things they were bringing with them on their trip around the region.

Oliver, in his green jacket and khaki pants, had an oversized backpack stuffed with multiple changes of clothes (though they were also all green and khaki), various assorted bits of camping gear, a few packs of instant noodles (he was never that great a cook), and, of course, one Psychic/Fairy passenger.

Moira, in her red sweater and purple skirt, had her own backpack, which had similar supplies, but more was packed in there since, unlike Oliver, she was perfectly okay with her team staying in their Pokéballs.

The two had said their goodbyes to their parents. Oliver's mother had known for years how important this was to him, and always knew this day would come, but that didn't stop her from tearfully hugging Oliver longer than usual when it came time to depart.

In front of them stood Route 1, the road between Shorevul and Searrow. The road's pavement was old but still decently well-maintained, with gold-colored grass and brush littering the right side of the road. To the left was an old waterway that used to bring fresh water here, but they, too, were old and had since dried up, as better means of pumping water to Shorevul had since been devised.

Oliver took a deep breath. Before now, he hadn't been allowed to go down Route 1 on his own because of the possibility of being jumped by wild Pokémon, and he wasn't allowed to battle Pokémon without a license. He always had his mother, or occasionally Scarlet to come with him. He'd say this was his first time setting foot out there on his own, but Moira was right beside him.

"Ye feelin' nervous, there?" Moira asked.

"Erm… kinda," Oliver admitted.

Moira shrugged. "'fit makes ye feel any better I'm totally unfamiliar with Allanza, so I'm just as nervous as you are."

"That makes me feel a little better," Oliver admitted. They both turned to the road ahead. "I don't know why I'm so nervous. I've been looking forward to it since I was a little kid."

"The hardest part is the first step. After that, it gets easier," Moira supplied.

Oliver nodded. "All right then. I guess it's time."

And with that, the two of them took a simultaneous step outside the Shorveul Town limits. Moira was right, after that first step, a lot of the tension disappeared and the two of them were walking down the road, nonchalantly chatting. Ralts was enjoying the ride, as was Joltik.

"Hey, Moira, I've been meaning to ask you for a while," Oliver asked.

"Fire away," she replied.

"Didn't you say you took part in a Gym Challenge back in Galar before you came here?"

Moira's smile faded into something that wasn't quite a frown, but could almost be called that. "A-aye…"

"Well, both of your Pokémon are unevolved, so I'm guessing you didn't get too far. What happened?"

Moira began stammering, searching for an excuse not to answer when a distraction came from the grass to the right of the road in the form of a wild Pokémon.

The Pokémon in question, as it turned out, was a Nidoran. It was a male one, to be precise, and the pointy, horned, purple Pokémon let out a small shout as it stood in the road in front of the two trainers.

Moira's eyes lit up. "I haven't seen this one before!" she shouted, excited. "A'm gonna catch it!"

Oliver turned. "No way, I want it!"

Moira cracked her knuckles. "Well, then, I guess there's only one way to solve this…"

"ROCK!"

"PAPER!"

"SCISSORS!"

Oliver's hand formed scissors, while Moira's hand was curled into a fist, forming rock. The Nidoran was just sitting there watching the display with a confused and annoyed expression. Oliver groaned in disappointment, then brushed it off. "You know what? I'm not even mad. I don't think I've actually seen your team in action."

Moira stepped forward and pulled a Pokéball out of her pocket, wound up, and threw it. 'GO, WOOLOO!" Out from the ball popped Wooloo, the Normal-type sheep faced the wild Poison-type.

The Nidoran ran forward, readying Horn Attack.

"Wooloo, use Defense Curl!"

Wooloo curled into a ball, and the wool heavily reduced the impact when Nidoran jabbed its horn into it. Wooloo bounced backwards, then uncurled and slid to a stop.

"Now use Thunder Wave!"

Oliver, watching the battle, knew what was coming. Joltik had really enjoyed feeding off the static electricity in her wool in the past, so he figured it'd be easy to weaponize it for Electric moves. He found himself wondering what other moves Wooloo could harness it for.

Wooloo's wool began to spark, then a ring of yellow sparking energy shot forward and enveloped Nidoran, causing it to begin trembling uncontrollably. It tried to let loose a Double Kick, but froze in place, numbed by the electric show.

"All righty then, use Tackle!"

As Wooloo began to charge forward at the immobilized Nidoran, Oliver's eyes widened. "W-wait, don't do that!"

Moira turned back to face him. "Eh? Why?"

"Because if she hits one of the pointy bits, Nidoran can poison on contact!"

Moira's eyes widened. "Wait, Wooloo!" But the sheep had already slammed its full weight into Nidoran, accidentally striking Nidoran's horn. She recoiled from the sharp pain, then stumbled back, looking slightly green and sickly.

Seeing its opportunity, Nidoran retaliated with Poison Sting, launching a small spike from its body and striking Wooloo.

Moira grunted in frustration, pulling out Sobble's Pokéball while preparing to withdraw Wooloo. "Ye couldn't have told me that before?"

"I'm sorry! It slipped my mind!" Oliver said defensively.

Moira rolled her eyes. "You're using one of your own Antidotes on her," she shot as she tagged Wooloo out and sent out Sobble.

"Just one more hit oughta be enough! Use Water Pulse!'

Sobble built up water in its mouth, and launched a large ring of water towards Nidoran. It burst on impact and the water pressure threw Nidoran back a couple feet, and it stumbled around a bit in disorientation.

Moira grinned. "That oughta do it," she said to herself, and pulled an empty Pokéball out of her pocket, throwing it at the confused, paralyzed Nidoran. Light burst forth from the Pokéball and enveloped Nidoran, pulling it into the ball.

The ball snapped shut and the ball sat on the ground where it landed. It shook as Nidoran attempted to break out. It shook a second time, then a third time, then it locked, snapping shut with a small spark and an incredibly satisfying __click! __

Moira pumped her fist in triumph, and Sobble himself bounced a bit.

"Nice work, Moira! Your team did awesome!"

She smiled at the complement, pocketing her new catch.

"Ye think that was cool, ye haven't seen anything yet."

With that, the two trainers continued up the road, the morning sun getting closer to its noon position as they passed a street sign that said "SEARROW TOWN - 1 ½ Miles," the town itself visible in the distance.

"Ye still owe me an Antidote though."

* * *

_**Okay, I really want your opinion on this: Does anyone want to see my own original Pokémon in this story, considering the Allanza region is an original location? If I don't hear anything within the next couple chapters I'll abandon the idea, though I'll still include regional variants.**_

_**I'd like to see some feedback regardless. I'd like to know what I can improve going forward, and I might come back and retroactively fix those problems in previous chapters one day. Who knows?**_

**_The confrontation in the first half of the chapter was really hard for me to pull off. I'm still not sure if I was being to harsh or not harsh enough on these two for their respective mistakes. I'm not entirely 100% satisfied with how it turned out, but I needed to establish some more character stuff before they hit the road, and I think that purpose was accomplished just fine._**

_**I'm hoping to get into a rhythm of uploading bi-weekly on Monday/Tuesday and Thursday/Friday.**_


	5. Friendly Firepower

"So you're sure you don't want to heal Nidoran right now?" asked Oliver, now short one Antidote and walking side-by-side with Moira once again.

"Nah, I think I'll wait until we get tae town and use the Pokémon Center," Moira replied.

Oliver shrugged. "Suit yourself."

The sun was out in full force now. The two were about half an hour away from Searrow. Their plan was to drop their injured Pokémon at the Pokémon Center, get lunch, and then meet up with Professor Pine.

Suddenly a Spearow flew overhead. Oliver was about ready to send Joltik out to try to catch it but it flew away before Oliver could give any commands.

"Oh, I'm sorry, ye missed it."

Oliver only appeared downtrodden for a second. "Don't worry, Spearow are everywhere in Central Allanza. That won't be the last one we see."

The two kept walking. Not a minute had passed before another Spearow flew overhead. Moira was about to comment on it when a small tan Pokémon, completely unfamiliar to Moira, darted past them, chasing after the birds.

Oliver's eyes widened. "Forget about Spearow; I think I found my first _ real _ catch. Come on!" He darted into the tall grass after them and Moira, surprised, followed suit.

They came to a clearing where the two Spearow were hovering above. Every so often one of them would divebomb the hapless Pokémon that was chasing them and fly out of reach quickly. That Pokémon would try to strike it out of the air when it got close but it just wasn't fast enough.

The hapless little guy was a canine quadruped, with sharp claws on its paws. It had two very large ears and a small snout tipped with a large black nose, with two fangs visible. Its tail was long and bushy, the tip of the tail dark brown in comparison to the tan fur on the rest of it. There was also a few tufts of a much lighter tan around its neck. Its big eyes had red pupils that were angrily glaring at the two birds.

Moira felt a bit of pity for the… um… "Oliver? I never seen that one before."

"Oh, that? That's native to Allanza. You got that Pokédex app on your phone, look it up!"

She did so, scrolling through the Allanza Pokédex before finding what she was looking for.

* * *

TRYOTE

Persistent Pokémon

Normal/Ground

When it sets its sights on prey, it will stubbornly chase after it even if other food sources are available. Bird Pokémon have taken note of this and delight in tormenting hungry Tryote.

* * *

Oliver adjusted his glasses. "I feel kinda guilty saying this, but those Spearow have worn it down enough that a Pokéball should work right off the bat." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Pokéball. "Just need to aim it carefully… make sure it doesn't accidentally hit a Spearow… and…!"

He tossed it finally, and it hit its mark, drawing the Tryote inside of it. The Spearow were startled and flew off, as the Pokéball shook.

"C'mon…" Oliver pleaded to no one in particular as he crossed his fingers.

The ball shook twice more before it snapped shut with a satisfying _ click _.

Oliver blinked. "That was… that was the first Pokémon I actually caught! O-on my first try, too!" Once he regained his composure, Oliver walked over and took the ball. "Shame I couldn't catch one of those Spearow, but I'm sure I'll find another one."

He and Moira went back on the main road. "Hey Moira, if it's all right with you, I'm gonna walk with him for a bit. I wanna try to get him used to me while we're out on the road."

Moira nodded. "Aye, no skin off my back."

Oliver took out his Pokéball and brought out Tryote. Its first instinct on being let out was to search around frantically for the birds that had tormented it. Seeing that they were long gone, it looked a little downtrodden.

"Hey, Tryote? Don't let that get you down," Oliver said. "You'll get 'em one day."

It looked up at its new trainer, eyeing him with skepticism. Moira inched away from it, hesitantly.

Oliver knelt down near his new team member. "My name's Oliver. Welcome to the team, Tryote." He reached out a hand to pet him, but the Ground-type tried to bite him. Oliver quickly withdrew his hand. "No," he said sternly. "Bad boy. Ralts, can you use Hypnosis, calm him down?"

From her perch in the backpack, Ralts used a weakened version of Hypnosis, which didn't put Tryote to sleep, but it DID make it somewhat drowsy when the psychic waves made contact.

Satisfied it wouldn't bite his hand off, Oliver attempted to pet his new catch a second time. This time, he succeeded. Though it was sleepy, Tryote's tail bounced on the ground in contentment. Oliver noted that the fur was hind of coarse and sandy. "We'll have to give you a bath once we get to town." He smiled, then recalled him back into the Pokeball.

"Now then," Oliver said, pocketing the ball once again, "Shall we be on our way?"

* * *

Searrow was still relatively suburban, but bigger and more developed than Shorevul. The University of Searrow Central Allanza, or USCA, was the centerpoint of the city. The residential area was built around the large open campus. There was a bit more variety in the shape of the houses than in Shorevul but they generally had an off-white color with roofs being varying degrees of blue-green.

"First stop, the Pokémon Center. Then we'll meet up with Professor Pine. Her lab is across the street from USCA's campus," Oliver said.

"Ye think ye can convince Pine to endorse us?" Moira asked.

"I hope so. I imagine you'll have an easier time, though."

The two of them walked right to the red-roofed building that any trainer learned to recognize on sight. As they entered and deposited the Pokémon that had been either injured or exhausted, they happened to notice a familiar face.

"Hey, Oliver! Fancy seeing you here!" Scarlet called, Cassandra following close behind. "And… Mary?"

"Moira."

"Moira. My apologies. What brings you here?"

"Well, we're going to visit Professor Pine and ask her to endorse us for the Gym Challenge," Oliver explained. "I figured we should ask her in person, since we only live a couple hours away."

Scarlet raised an eyebrow. "Two days before the opening ceremonies? Cutting it a little close, aren't we?"

Oliver raised a hand defensively. "I know, I know, I already got an earful from Moira."

Moira grinned sheepishly. "May've gone overboard," she said, scratching the back of her head.

"Eh, I had it coming," Oliver shrugged. "I still like you."

"In any case," Scarlet said, steering them back on topic, "Once your Pokémon recover, I'll meet you at the lab. I'll tell the Professor to expect you." With that, she turned and left the Center.

* * *

Once the two had grabbed lunch and made sure to get food for their respective Pokémon (while Oliver checked his Pokédex app on his phone to see what moves a Tryote should know), they retrieved their team from the Pokémon Center and shortly arrived at the laboratory of Professor Pine. The lab was a plain rectangular building that didn't really stick out that much. Oliver knocked on the door.

"Come on in!" an adult woman's voice said from within.

They opened the door and walked in. Inside they saw a few terrariums and aquariums containing small Pokémon. Moira recognized a few of the Pokémon inside, like that tank containing a Goldeen, and the terrarium containing a Metapod covered in silk. She was interested to see a soil-filled terrarium containing a Unovan Stunfisk. There as even an egg in an incubator.

Then there was one in a sandy desert terrarium, however, that she had never seen before. It was snakelike, with the end of the tail having a long spearhead that appeared to be made of black stone, like coal or something. The body of the snake was an alternating pattern of red and dark yellow, and its lower jaw seemed to be covered in that same coal-like substance and its eyes were big and yellow.

* * *

FLINTAIL

Ignition Pokémon

Fire

When threatened, this Pokémon rattles its tail, which is made of a substance similar to flint. The friction generates sparks, which usually succeed in scaring off predators, especially at night. However, they have been known to start fires when the sparks hit dry brush.

* * *

At the back end of the lab was an assortment of computer equipment around a desk. Scarlet was standing near it, Cassandra by her side, peering over and looking at a screen. Sitting behind the desk was a woman in her early-to-mid 40s, with light pale blonde hair loosely hanging over her shoulders, with the occasional green highlights streaking through it. She was wearing glasses over her hazel eyes and she had on a white labcoat that more closely resembled a dress, a dark green tie visible under it.

"Long time no see, Professor!'

The woman, Professor Pine, looked up and smiled. "Oliver. It's been too long. And this is your new friend from Galar?"

"That I am, ma'am. Moira Taylor's the name," Moira greeted .

"So, what can I do for you two?"

Oliver explained how they wanted to take part in the Gym Challenge, and that as a respected scholar on the subject of Pokémon and their habitats, she would be able to endorse the two of them.

"I know it's kind of short-notice, and we probably should've done this weeks ago, but-"

"Sure, I'll endorse you."

Oliver and Moira were taken aback at how easily she agreed. Even Scarlet was a little surprised.

"R-Really, Professor?" Scarlet asked, also a little surprised.

"Yes. If they never get the chance to face true competition, then they won't grow as trainers. However…"

Oliver and Moira were both on the edge of their seat, listening.

"...Before I do so, I want to see you two in action. I want to be sure you two are skilled enough trainers that you won't stall right at the beginning."

"Yeah, I guess that sounds fair." "Sounds good to me!"

Pine got up from her chair. "Let's change venues for a bit, the exit onto Route 2 should do fine."

* * *

Route 2 was a bit more dense with greenery than Route 1 was, with more trees and grass on the sides of the road and Searrow Forest just to the north. There was a pretty open spot by the side of the road, where the grass was not too tall and the Pokémon had plenty of space to run around in.

"Ye know," Moira commented as she began walking to her side of the field, "This is the first time we actually fought."

"Yeah, it kind of is, isn't it?" Oliver replied, with a thoughtful tone of voice. "Surprised we haven't had one yet."

"All right you two," Scarlet said. "I want the two of you to give it your all."

Professor Pine stood off to the side, curious to see the potential of these two.

"All right…" Scarlet began.

Oliver adjusted his glasses again, Moira planted her feet on the ground.

"...Begin!"

Oliver threw out a Pokeball. "Go, Tryote!"

Moira tossed one of her own. "Go, Nidoran!"

Scarlet watched with interest as the two Pokémon materialized on the battlefield. _ So right out of the gate, Oliver has a type advantage. However, the only Ground-type move a Tryote would know is Mud-Slap. Let's see how this goes… _

"Alright, Nidoran! Use Poison Sting!"

"Hit it with a Mud-Slap before it can land!"

The Tryote's reaction time barely won out and it swept a heap of moist dirt at Nidoran which got in its eyes along with dealing damage to it. This caused the Poison Sting to miss by a couple inches.

"Shake it off, Nidoran! Go for a Horn Attack!" Moira shouted.

"Keep your distance and pelt it with another Mud-Slap!" Oliver commanded his own Pokémon.

This went on for a bit with Tryote running circles around the increasingly dirty and disoriented Nidoran, flinging mud at it until Nidoran couldn't tell his right from his left.

"Great work! Now, come back!" He withdrew Tryote into a Pokeball.

Moira was confused, but Scarlet nodded. _ He didn't want to run the risk of his Pokémon getting poisoned on contact, _ she thought. _ It's a safe bet that he'll switch over to Ralts now. _

"Go, Ralts!" Just as Scarlet predicted, Ralts jumped out of Oliver's backpack to the spot Tryote had been standing last. "Now use Confusion!"

Confusion handily finished off Nidoran. Not only was it supereffective, but the Mud-Slaps from Tryote had whittled it down significantly. Moira withdrew the unconscious Poison-type. "Go, Wooloo!" she shouted as she sent her second Pokemon. The round fluffy sheep landed in the arena.

_ So, I definitely don't have anything with a Fighting-type move. That's a bit of a pickle, _ Oliver thought. _ And Wooloo will definitely be able to take and dish out more punishment than Ralts can. I hope this works… _ "Ralts, use Hypnosis!"

"Not if I can help it! Wooloo, use Headbutt!"

Ralts generated those rings of energy but Wooloo managed to evade them in time as she rolled around to Ralts's side and uncurled in time to deliver a headbutt head-on. The impact caused Ralts to stagger.

"Now go for another one!"

Wooloo reared its head. Oliver shouted for Ralts to dodge, but her flinching from Headbutt slowed her reaction time, and the second clean hit knocked her out cold.

Oliver reluctantly withdrew her into a Pokéball, the score an even 1-1.

_ Okay, Wooloo's wool will negate most of the attacks Tryote has. Joltik can't take a hit, but he should be able to outspeed her. _ "Your turn, Joltik!"

The spider jumped down and took Ralts's place.

"Use Electroweb!"

Wooloo immediately took a hit from a hunk of electrified webbing that spread out on impact and encircled her, shocking her.

"You can take the hit, lass! Use Payback!"

Fueled by the pain inflicted on her by Electroweb, Wooloo began to rush forward, but Joltik was easily able to jump out of the way.

"Nice dodge!" Oliver shouted. "Use String Shot to keep her down, then use another Electroweb!"

Joltik jumped up and released more web- not electrified this time- that quickly wrapped around Wooloo and stuck to her. Wooloo attempted to break free, but Joltik was already quick on the draw with his second Electroweb.

"This doesn't look good… Wooloo, come back!" Moira called, withdrawing Wooloo. "Go, Sobble!"

Scarlet's eyes narrowed. _ Even if Sobble is her ace, she's at a serious disadvantage. _

Moira didn't seem to care. "Now, Sobble, use Water Pulse!"

"Electroweb again! Man, we need to get you some new electric-type attacks soon…"

Joltik began to weave another web of electricity and fired it off just as a ring of water shot from Wooloo's mouth and washed over Joltik. The webs made it through and shocked Sobble. Joltik didn't seem overly hurt.

"Try going for a Bug Bite now!"

Unfortunately for Oliver, while Joltik was still able to fight, the water current had disoriented it and Joltik began to stumble, unable to get his bearings.

"Now's yer chance, wee lad! Use Sucker Punch!"

Joltik didn't react in time and Sobble's fist landed a direct hit, launching it all the way back to Oliver. Oliver swore under his breath and recalled Joltik, sending out his last Pokemon, Tryote.

_ He's my last Pokémon, and he's a Ground-type! Water Pulse will eat him alive, and even if it doesn't, the Confusion effect will render him helpless! _

Still, he couldn't let himself show any weakness. "Tryote, use Bite!"

Moira grinned. "Use Water Pulse!"

Another ring of water shot from Sobble, and Tryote darted right towards Sobble, not caring about the Water-type attack barreling towards him. The attack connected, but the current didn't knock him around and confuse him. _ That's right, Tryote has the Own Tempo ability, _ Scarlet realized. _ It won't lose focus no matter what. _It did some serious damage but seeing as this was the first damage Tryote took this entire fight, it wasn't down yet.

His fangs hit their mark, landing a direct hit on Sobble, who shrieked in pain. Tryote leapt back off and the unfortunate water lizard was still recoiling from the pain.

"Quickly, lad, use Sucker Punch!"

"Finish him off with another Bite!"

Sucker Punch would've finished Tryote right there, but Bite had caused Sobble to flinch pretty badly, and Tryote landed his second bite without issue, finally doing enough damage to Sobble to render him unconscious.

Moira sadly withdrew Sobble, sending out Wooloo again.

Both Wooloo and Tryote were somewhat worse for wear, but Wooloo was slowed down by spider webs, giving Tryote the speed advantage.

"Use Mud-Slap!"

Tryote launched more dirt at Wooloo, covering her face.

"Hit 'em back with Payback!"

Wooloo began to rear back and prepare to strike, but the String Shot from earlier slowed her movements enough that Oliver was able to give one last move command. "Tryote, use Bite!" Tryote leapt forward and sank his teeth into Wooloo's fluffy exterior. The wool absorbed most of the damage, but the impact did enough damage to finish what all those Electrowebs had started. Wooloo let out a weak _ baa _ and stumbled around before collapsing.

"Moira is out of usable Pokémon!" Scarlet shouted. "Oliver wins!"

Oliver ran up and began furiously petting Tryote. "You did an awesome job, buddy! I'm so proud of you!" Tryote's tail flapped against the ground, relishing the attention.

Moira was sulking somewhat. Not only did she lose, but Nidoran didn't even get to do anything. She'd have to do some serious training with him if they stood any chance at beating the Gym Challenge.

Pine clapped. "That was a good show, both of you. Now, why don't we head back to the Pokémon Center and we can talk at my lab some more." The four of them made their way back to town.

Scarlet couldn't help but smile. _ You two are gonna go places. _

* * *

_**And here we have the first of my original Pokémon! Don't expect that many though. As of this writing I only managed to come up with 32, not including regional variants. I wanted to illustrate them, but I'm not nearly good enough. Maybe one day.**_

_**Tryote was mainly inspired by Wile E. Coyote, but I also got some inspiration from my cat Roosevelt, who was repeatedly tormented by hummingbirds a couple summers back before he finally snapped and killed one of them.**_

_**I'm also starting to regret including Cassandra because she hasn't really done anything.**_

_**Also, I very stupidly had to take it down and reupload it because the document got horribly mauled at some point and I didn't notice. Sorry for the inconvenience!**_


	6. Hitting the Trail

__I, Professor Joanne Pine, hereby endorse Oliver Clairmont/Moira Taylor to participate in the Allanza Region's 17th Annual Pokémon Gym Challenge. __

Below that was Professor Pine's signature, underneath which was a faxed signature from their respective parents. They were both minors, after all. That done, both documents were placed in envelopes and handed to the two young trainers.

Oliver was shaking in silent excitement. Moira was still a little miffed by how the battle had turned out, but still pleased to finally have an official endorsement.

Professor Pine looked past them to see what Scarlet and Cassandra were doing. They were looking at the egg that was in the incubator while it appeared to be shaking, signaling it was about to hatch.

"Oliver, would you be so kind as to help Scarlet out with that? She's been my assistant for years but she always had trouble dealing with newly hatched Pokémon… something I think you're supremely qualified for." Oliver gave her a thumbs up and went to help out.

Moira started to follow him. "Wait just a second," Pine said, stopping her. "I wanted to talk about a couple things with you." Nodding nervously, she sat down in a chair opposite Pine's desk.

"First off, I know your Pokémon Trainer Card is __technically __valid, but I feel like we should print out an Allanzan card just to simplify things for the League staff."

Moira sighed in relief. She was worried this was going to be about her loss to Oliver, but she already got her endorsement, so she didn't know why she was so nervous. She handed her card over to the Professor, who began typing into a computer.

"Second, while we're here, I want to ask you something else. Come over here and look at this video," she said. Moira, confused, got up and walked around to see what Pine had on her computer.

Pine pressed the play button on the video and when Moira realized what it was, she went white as a sheet.

It was __the__ video. The one she didn't want anyone in Allanza to know about.

"What- h-how the f*** did ye-?!" she asked quietly. "Oh, uh, s-sorry fer the language."

"I have relatives in Galar, and they sent me this." Moira's shoulders fell. __Of course. It was an internet meme back home for a while. __"I thought it was pretty funny when I first saw it, for all the wrong reasons." Pine's expression fell. "I feel really guilty about it now, though. When you showed up with Oliver, I thought you looked kinda familiar, and when I saw your choice of Pokémon, I had to check to see if it wasn't just a coincidence."

Moira nodded, then turned to see if Oliver had heard anything. Mercifully it would seem he hadn't, he was busy petting the newly hatched Growlithe while Scarlet and Cassandra cleaned up what was left of the egg. She turned back to Pine. "Please dinnae tell Oliver aboot this."

"Don't worry," she reassured. "I won't."

Moira sighed in relief, and sat there in silence as Pine began typing in the information for her new Trainer Card.

Unbeknownst to her, though, while Oliver may have been focusing on the baby Growlithe, Scarlet had overheard parts of it. She knew better than to ask about it but curiosity began to occupy her mind.

__What the heck kind of video was it? __

As Oliver and Moira left to wait at the Pokémon Center, Scarlet went over to Pine's desk.

"You really think they'll be able to handle the Gym Challenge? I mean, the two of them are 14 years old. Traveling across Allanza at their age sounds incredibly dangerous."

"Oh, I wholeheartedly agree," Pine said. "Which is why you're going with them."

Scarlet and Cassandra started. "Wh-what?!"

Pine stood up. "I have faith in them as trainers, but at the end of the day, they're just kids, and I'd rather they didn't have to walk through Neoshine on their own."

Scarlet nodded, knowing just how dangerous Neoshine could be.

"Besides, I have a job for you. It's about the Allanza Pokédex."

This got Scarlet's interest. Pine was one of the people primarily responsible for compiling data for the Allanza Pokédex, and Scarlet had been part of that project for the past few years as her lab assistant-slash-intern.

"See, the Pokédex is in need of an update. There's been some minor edits since the last one, but it hasn't seen a major update in years. So I want you to travel with Oliver and Moira. The Gym Challenge will take them all over the region, so you'll probably encounter every Allanzan species at least once. Besides," Pine added, "Cassandra hasn't really gotten out that much as of late. This'll be good for her. Maybe you'll even get to have a battle or two?"

Scarlet's expression darkened at this last bit, causing Cassandra to look up at her, concerned. "I told you already. My days of being a Trainer are over. I'm not battling anymore."

Pine smiled apologetically. "R-right. My mistake. Guess that wound's still fresh…" she cleared her throat. "In any event, I'd like you to follow Oliver and Moira on their journey and gather data both from wild Pokémon and trained Pokémon."

Scarlet huffed, before looking down at her Dark-type companion. She was looking up at Scarlet with big, pleading eyes. The assistant's expression softened and she sighed. __She hasn't been past Route 2 and Neoshine in years, has she... __"Sure, fine. I'll do it."

Pine grinned. "Perfect. Let me just get you the admin rights to the Dex real quick, then you can head over to meet those two. They should be waiting at the Pokémon Center by now."

* * *

While their Pokémon were recovering, Oliver was reading through the __Crobatman and Fletchling __trade he got for his birthday.

"How is it?" Moira asked, curiously. "I haven't read the past few issues myself."

Oliver put the trade down. "Well, it's definitely good. But I'm a little sick of seeing Mr. Crime as the bad guy all the time."

"But I thought he was the best Crobatman villain?"

"He is, but sometimes it's starting to feel like it's about Mr. Crime and not Crobatman. I mean, come on. There are __other __villains. Like Two-Face and his Morpeko. Or Banechamp. Or-"

"Ah, there you are!"

Oliver and Moira turned to greet Scarlet as she entered the center, Cassandra close behind.

"Scarlet! What are you doing here, didn't Pine have a job for you?" Oliver asked.

Scarlet explained what was going on, how Pine wanted her to gather data for the Pokédex and go with the two of them.

"Oh, so she had ye babysit us, that it?" asked Moira, slightly miffed. "We can take care of ourselves. We're f***in' trainers. She knows that, right?"

"No, I get it," Oliver said, causing Moira to raise an eyebrow. "I've heard some nasty things go on in the shadows of Neoshine City. Going there just the two of us, two kids, that's just asking for trouble."

Moira shrugged. "Well, ye've lived here longer than I have."

Scarlet sat down next to them. "So what's your guys' plan from here?"

"Well," Oliver said, "the opening ceremonies are in two days. Neoshine is just up Route 2, so we should easily be able to get there with a day to spare. Once we register for the Gym Challenge they should have accommodations for us… hey wait," Oliver realized, "What about you, Scarlet? You're not taking the challenge, are you gonna be on your own on getting a hotel room?"

"Oh, that's not gonna be a problem," Scarlet responded nonchalantly. "Since the two of you are minors they allow adult chaperones for things like this."

"Okay, that's good to know."

They were about to discuss something else when Moira just happened to look at the TV they had in the waiting room. Her eyes widened and she slumped forward. "Ye've got to be kidding me…"

"Huh? What's the matter?" Oliver asked, before following Moira's gaze to the TV. The volume was too low to hear anything but the news had captions turned on.

_"___A car accident occurred earlier today on Route 2 at about 3:26 PM. A pickup truck collided with a lumber truck, damaging both vehicles and scattering the lumber truck's contents across the road. __

__Both drivers were unharmed but the driver of the lumber truck challenged the other driver to a Pokémon battle. He won, but his Pokémon, a Rhydon, caused severe damage to the road." __

The news report went on to talk about fines or something but they had caught the important part: the road was closed.

"Well sh**e!" Moira let out, exasperated. "How the f*** are we supposed to get tae Neoshine with the road blocked?" she continued, before noticing the dirty looks she was getting from the other trainers in the center and hanging her head.

Scarlet thought. "Well… there's always the Searrow Forest Nature Preserve. We could always walk through there." This got their interest.

Oliver considered it. "That's actually not a bad idea."

"What are ye going on about?" asked Moira.

"There's a forest just north of Searrow," Scarlet explained. "Route 2 goes right through it. There's also a few nature trails that go through there. It would probably take us an extra day but it exits near Neoshine."

"Plus, a forest means one thing: Wild Pokémon," Oliver said with a glint in his eye. "We could train our teams up a bit and catch some new Pokémon as well!" Moira liked the sound of that, actually.

"You both brought along camping gear?" Scarlet asked. "We won't be able to get through the forest before it gets dark."

Both Oliver and Moira responded in the affirmative.

"Right. Let's head back to my place first so I can grab my own stuff. Then we'll hit the trail."

* * *

_**Happy New Year everybody!**_

**_I apologize for this chapter being a bit short, but I thought it'd be best for the pacing of the next chapter._**


	7. The Forest for the Trees

"Yep. There's the wreck."

They were standing in the middle of the road. On either side of Route 2 was the Searrow Forest Nature Preserve. Behind them was the short stretch of road that led to Searrow. And ahead of them was the two wrecked trucks and their cargo littered around the broken and torn road.

Scarlet couldn't help but shake her head in exasperation as she looked at the damaged road ahead. A road work crew was repairing the road, while others were working on clearing the wreckage and lumber strewn about the road. They were accompanied by a few Pokémon, the only ones Moira recognized being Machoke and Gurdurr, though there was another one that she didn't remember seeing in Galar. She was informed later that the floating steel Pokémon helping to move the car wreckage was a Magneton.

"There should be a trail somewhere around here… aha! There it is." Scarlet pointed a narrow brown dirt path that branched off from the main road that twisted and turned until it disappeared into the foliage.

The three stepped onto the trail and began making their way into the ever-darkening woods. Ralts, now fully recovered, was now back in Oliver's backpack, but was a little uneasy by the shadows cast by the trees, despite Joltik's best efforts to comfort her. Cassandra wasn't as nervous. On the contrary, she was soaking in the beauty of nature as she hadn't gotten out much.

"I gotta say, this isn't how I envisioned my career starting," Oliver commented. "My first full day as a trainer and we have to take a detour through the forest. Is this an omen? I feel like it's an omen."

"Dinnae worry, Oliver. Campin' is actually really f***in' fun."

"Oh, you camp often?"

"Excuse me, you three?" They turned to face the new voice. It was a park ranger. He was in his late 20s with long brown hair wearing a green hat and brown vest over a grey shirt and dark green pants, with two Pokéballs holstered on his belt. "Sorry to interrupt you, but I just have to ask a couple questions. You're taking the trail to bypass Route 2?"

"That's correct, yes," Scarlet responded.

"Do you plan on camping overnight?"

"Yes."

"All right. Were you planning on catching any Pokémon? Because I'm gonna need to see a valid trainer license from all of you or I can't allow you to do so."

Oliver and Moira both pulled out their trainer cards, and to their surprise, Scarlet also produced one, though the picture on her card was very clearly out of date, showing a Scarlet that was about Oliver's age.

"Thanks for cooperating. Sorry for the questions, I'm required by law to check." He pointed down the trail. "Take the second branching path on your left, then just follow the trail up to a clearing we've set up for camping. From there just follow the trail north and it'll exit onto the north side of Route 2."

"Thank you, sir," Scarlet replied.

"Anytime." The ranger tipped his hat and left.

The three continued down the trail, but a couple minutes later Oliver decided to break the ice.

"So Scarlet… I didn't know you were a trainer."

"Well yeah, I WAS a trainer," she said, a little too sharply. "I keep renewing it for convenience, in case I need Absol for anything. But I'm not taking part in any competitions anytime soon."

Oliver winced at her curt tone of voice. "Geez, sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

Scarlet seemed to realize how she came across, and she sighed. "I'm sorry for snapping at you. It's just a chapter of my life I'd rather forget."

Moira couldn't help but feel sympathy for the lab assistant. Oliver, meanwhile, mulled this over in his head.

_I've known her for years and I never knew she was a trainer. Then again, there was that time four years ago she went on that trip for a couple months. And when she got back I didn't see her for a while…_

His train of thoughts was interrupted when Moira shouted. "Hey, a think that's a Pokémon up ahead!"

Oliver looked where Moira was pointing and sure enough, there was a short, rounded, yellow-and-green Pokémon that was just alerted to their presence.

"Hey, a Shroomish! Good eye, I didn't even notice it!"

The Shroomish took off down the road as fast as its stubby little legs would take it. Moira, however, chased after it, taking out Nidoran's Pokéball.

"Poison beats Grass, right? Let's see how Nidoran does!"

She threw the ball and out popped Nidoran, which prompted Shroomish to stop fleeing and hold its ground.

"Careful Moira," Oliver pointed out. "Shroomish releases spores on contact that can put a Pokémon to sleep."

"Thanks fer the heads up!" Moira grinned. "Nidoran, use Poison Sting!"

Nidoran launched a couple spines out of its body that struck Shroomish dead-on, causing it to stagger, though the poison did not seem to take effect. The mushroom Pokémon responded by launching a couple seeds that sprouted plants that rooted Nidoran to the ground.

"Oof, that looks like Leech Seed. Better take it down quick, or his energy will be drained," Oliver observed.

Moira grimaced. "All right, try another Poison Sting!" Nidoran launched more spines, which connected with Shroomish again, as it wasn't the fastest. This time, Shroomish began to wobble around with a nauseous expression. This time, the poison had took hold.

Shroomish began to rear back. "Look out," Oliver warned. "Looks like it's gonna use Headbutt. If it hits Nidoran, the spores might put him to sleep. Maybe you could try catching it right now!"

She nodded, then took out a Pokéball and wound up. "Let's hope this works! I only hit the thing twice!" She threw the ball and it connected with Shroomish right before it could ram into Nidoran, pulling it inside and slamming shut. It landed, and shook a few times before it clicked shut.

Almost immediately, the roots tying Nidoran down disappeared. Moira picked it up and pocketed the ball. "Great work, Nidoran! A knew ye could do it!" The Poison-type lit up at the encouragement and let out a cute little "Raaan!" before Moira recalled him.

"I'll bring it out when we set up camp," she told the other two. _When I battled Oliver, Nidoran got knocked out right at the start. I think that was because I didn't try to bond with him and didn't bring it out again until the battle, but Oliver introduced himself to his Tryote right after catching it._

Then she turned to Oliver. "Ye really know yer stuff when it comes to moves, don't ye?"

Oliver scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I, it's nothing, I just had a lot of free time on my hands when I was younger, and I didn't have many friends so I spent a lot of time looking up stuff about moves and-"

"Let's hurry up and get to the campground," Scarlet interrupted. "The sun's starting to go down."

Oliver and Moira were a little startled. They both looked up. Indeed, the sky was starting to turn orange. They agreed, they oughta hurry before it got dark and they got stranded out here.

* * *

Thankfully they made it to the campsite while there was still light. Moira and Oliver both had a tent, and they all had the unspoken agreement that Moira and Scarlet would share Moira's tent. Oliver sat down and began rummaging through his bag, letting Ralts out to stretch her legs.

"So, what are ye having for dinner?" Moira asked.

Oliver shrugged. "I mean, I'm probably gonna just boil some water and make some instant noodles. I brought a few cups of-" He was cut off by hysterical laughing from Moira, the loudness causing Ralts and Joltik (who were gathering kindling for the campfire) to jump.

"Ye- ye- ye really think cup noodles are a meal?! Pffthahaha…" Oliver couldn't help but withdraw a bit.

Moira noticed Oliver's hurt expression and immediately dialed it back. "H-hey, look, why don't you just put those back and I'll show you how to make REAL food."

She set her bag on the ground and started rummaging through it.

Scarlet eyed her curiously. "What are you planning on making?"

Moira beamed as she proudly proclaimed, "Nothin' but genuine Galarian curry!" She slammed down a big ol' cooking pot over the firepit, startling Oliver's two Pokémon who were throwing on the last of the kindling. Where she got the pot from was anyone's guess, her bag was definitely not big enough to hold it. She pulled some ingredients from her bag. "Alright, now I just need some berries."

Oliver stood up. "All right. What kind?"

"Cheri berries preferable, though if ye find any Oran berries those'll be helpful."

"Sounds easy enough. Those are pretty common" Oliver turned to his two Pokémon. "Come on you guys, let's go find some!" And with that, Oliver, Ralts, and Joltik disappeared into the foliage and began searching.

Once they disappeared, Moira walked over to Scarlet. "Now that they're gone, can I ask you something?"

Scarlet shrugged. "Shoot."

"Do you think I'm too… I dunno… loud? Not sure what the right word is. Whenever I get worked up and start yelling Oliver just kinda looks like a kicked Growlithe, and back at the Pokémon Center, when I got upset over the road being closed everybody was glaring at me."

"Why don't you ask Oliver?"

"Because he'll just lie to keep me from feeling bad."

Yeah, I guess that's true, Scarlet thought. "Well, if you want my honest opinion, then… yeah, you seem to be a bit… overemotional at times."

Moira hung her head.

"But to be honest, Oliver's just the same way." Scarlet began absentmindedly petting Cassandra as Moira sat down and listened to what she had to say. "The difference is while you lash out, Oliver tends to withdraw. He's always been sensitive. That's not always a bad thing, though."

"The story of how he got Ralts. I remember."

"But at the same time, he never wants to stand up for himself. You saw the way he just rolled over and let Amber walk all over him." Moira nodded. She still owed Amber a good decking. "Maybe you can go a bit overboard, but Oliver could stand to learn a thing or two from you."

Moira said nothing in response. She, Scarlet, and Cassandra sat there looking at the fire.

And none of them managed to detect the fourth presence in the camp.

* * *

"We're baaack!" Oliver's voice rang out as he and his Pokémon emerged from the woods carrying a handful of red and blue berries. Joltik only carried a couple Oran berries on his back and Ralts was levitating a handful of her own.

"Hey, welcome back!" Moira waved. "Let's see what ye got…"

She looked over their findings. Then, she nodded. "Aye, these'll do wonderfully." She began walking back to her bag. "Let's just add these to the ingredients, and…" she paused as she looked through her belongings. "...All my ingredients are gone."

Oliver's eyes widened. "Oh dang… I'm sorry."

Moira snapped her fingers, her face radiating anger. "Some wild Pokémon must've wandered into camp and stolen it! And I was really looking forward to making curry fer you guys..."

"I'm sure you'll get another chance," Oliver said, trying to calm her down. "I mean, we still have food so it's not a big deal."

"If ye can even call those cheap instant noodles of yers 'food,'" Moira responded bitterly.

Oliver looked around to see if the thief was still around. He happened to notice a small plastic bag full of pieces of potato. Nearby were a set of tiny footprints.

"...whoever or whatever took the food, they left a trail. They can't be that far away yet!" With that Oliver took out Tryote's Pokéball and sent him out.

The Ground-type looked up at Oliver with curiosity. "Tryote, something, maybe a Wild Pokémon, took Moira's food. Can you help us track it down?" The big-eared Pokémon nodded. It stuck by Oliver as he walked towards where the tracks started.

"Hey, Oliver, it's all right, ye don't have to chase after it for me, it's probably long gone," Moira said.

"I know that, but I was honestly really looking forward to seeing what you cooked, so I'm gonna give it a shot regardless."

At that point, Joltik followed after Oliver. When he saw his trusty Bug/Electric-type had joined him, he turned towards Ralts, who was sitting by the fire chatting it up with Cassandra. Deciding not to interrupt, he took his two Pokémon and followed the trail.

* * *

Oliver shone his flashlight onto the ground as he and his Pokémon followed after the mystery thief. The tracks were tiny and hard to spot among the plants on the ground, but Tryote had a keener eye for this sort of thing, so Oliver was mainly shining the light for Tryote to see.

After about a minute, Tryote stopped. He raised his nose into the air and sniffed.

"You smell something?"

Without warning Tryote darted towards the smell. He ran ahead of Oliver, who couldn't keep up with him.

Crap! I'm gonna lose him!

"Joltik, go after him and signal me when he stops!" The spider leapt onto Tryote's back and rode on top as Oliver slowed to a halt, catching his breath.

After waiting for a bit, Oliver saw a flash of electricity not too far off and made his way towards it.

He eventually stepped into a clearing where he finally saw just what was going on.

In the clearing, standing atop a pile of Moira's bags of ingredients, was a Karrablast. The blue, pincer-headed Bug-type was tied up with silk that Joltik had no doubt fired, while Tryote was nursing some injuries he had taken from Karrablast. Joltik, for his part, was standing proudly next to Karrablast like a hunter posing for a picture with his latest trophy.

Oliver gave a low whistle. "Nice work, you two! You caught the thief, found Moira's ingredients, and I think I found myself my next catch."

Just then, Karrablast broke free of the silk, catching Oliver off-guard. Before he could do anything, Karrablast leapt towards Tryote and slashed at it twice in a cross shape ( It knows X-Scissor?! ), sending the already injured canine spiraling into unconsciousness.

It turned towards Joltik, who avoided the same fate on account of his speed and small size.

"Joltik, use Electroweb!" He complied, firing the webbing at Karrablast, who simply sliced right through it.

_This isn't looking good… It may overpower Joltik at this rate, and I don't want to be near this thing without any Pokémon!_

Karrablast glared daggers at the electric spider and jumped into the air and landed its pincers directly onto Joltik in a maneuver Oliver recognized as Peck.

Before it could do any further damage, however, a burst of pinkish energy flew in out of nowhere and knocked Karrablast away.

Oliver turned in the direction it came from and saw Ralts, riding majestically on Cassandra like a knight in shining armor. Karrablast got up and tried to retaliate, but Ralts simply used Hypnosis and the bug was knocked out cold.

Not wanting to waste his chance, Oliver threw a Pokéball at the sleeping bug. It opened in a flash of light and pulled Karrablast inside.

Oliver stared at the ball as it began to shake. His fingers were crossed as he hoped the capture stuck. That thing had taken down Tryote, and had very nearly taken down Joltik. This thing was strong for an unevolved Bug Pokémon.

It stayed on the ground, closed, rattling around as Karrablast had woken up and tried to break free.

And finally...

* click *

Oliver sighed in relief. "Okay, I was NOT expecting some random bug Pokémon to be so strong." He turned to Ralts and Cassandra. "Thanks for the assist, guys."

Ralts gave him a thumbs-up and Cassandra simply nodded, making a small mewing sound.

Oliver pocketed the Pokéball and turned to the pile that Karrablast had hoarded. "Let's get this stuff back to camp."

* * *

"So they showed up at the last second, all heroic-like? Wish I could've seen it," Moira said as she started throwing ingredients in the cooking pot.

Oliver and Moira had both let their Pokémon out to enjoy Moira's curry. Oliver initially wanted Karrablast to join in but it lashed out when Oliver tried to introduce himself, so they thought it best to keep it contained for now. Scarlet had a couple Revives on hand to help Tryote recover.

"Almost ready. Ye got the berries?"

"Right here," Oliver responded, holding up a mixture of red Cheri and blue Oran berries, not having paid much attention to what else Moira was putting into the pot. He dumped them in.

"Ye've never made curry before, have ye?"

"Um… no."

Moira smiled. "Why don't I show ye how to do it?"

Oliver was taken aback, but after thinking it over for a moment, nodded. "Sure, I'll give it a shot."

"Alright. Here, take this," she said, handing Oliver a blue fan.

"Huh?"

"Ye gotta fan the flames the old-fashioned way," Moira explained. "It's tradition."

"I-I've never really done this sort of thing before. I don't want to screw it up…"

"Oh, come off it, ye'll do fine, it's easy!"

* * *

"TONE IT THE F*** DOWN, WILL YE?! IT'S BURNING!"

Oliver was fanning the flames at an inhuman rate, causing the fire below the pot to blow up to a size that even a Charizard would be impressed by. Moira was waving her arms frantically trying to get Oliver to stop.

"S-Sorry! I got kinda carried away!"

He stopped fanning the flames and Moira nervously watched the fire die down, before sighing in relief. "Okay, that was scary…" She then took out a big wooden spoon, then handed it to Oliver. "Now get stirrin'!"

"O-okay!" He nervously lowered his spoon into the pot.

"Now just be sure not to go overboard with the stirrin' or else ye might-"

_SLOSH SLOSH SLOSH SLOSH_

Moira found herself splashed by the cooking curry as Oliver began furiously stirring. Sighing in defeat, Moira slowly leaned over and took the spoon from Oliver's hand.

"Maybe… maybe I should take it from here."

Oliver wholeheartedly agreed.

* * *

In the end, Moira managed to salvage it. Despite the spillage that occurred and the mishap with the fire, Moira was able to produce some delicious-looking curry. You know how pictures of food are always faked so they look better than the real thing? Moira somehow managed to make her real curry look like that.

She stuck the curry onto some paper plates and passed them around to Oliver, Scarlet, and the Pokémon (sans Karrablast, who was still in time-out). Oliver was worried he might've screwed it up but Moira took a big bite of her own plate and chewed it with a big, satisfied grin.

Relieved that it apparently turned out fine despite his "help," Oliver took a bite of the curry.

And promptly began breathing fire.

_SPICY! WHY IS SO SPICY!?_

He looked down at Ralts, but she would be no help, for she was also breathing fire.

As was Joltik.

And Scarlet.

And Cassandra.

Really, everyone who took a bite of the impossibly spicy curry was now breathing fire except for Moira, Sobble, and Wooloo, who made this sort of curry all the time and were used to it by now. And those three were happily chowing down on their plates, not caring about (or even noticing) the burning tastebuds of their traveling companions.

(The group would later admit the curry was delicious nonetheless.)

* * *

_**When planning this story I always pictured Ralts being Oliver's main Pokémon, but more and more it's looking like Joltik is taking that position.**_


	8. Meeting the Competiton

The morning after Moira had cooked her "Volcano Bakemeat," as they had taken to calling it, the gang had all laughed it off and resumed their trek through the forest. During this time, Oliver and Moira let their Pokémon loose to enjoy the forest atmosphere.

"Ralts, use Confusion!"

"Get 'er with Sucker Punch, Sobble!"

...Okay, and to do a bit of sparring. As they walked, Oliver and Moira's Pokémon were lightly attacking each other, Cassandra walking beside Scarlet and watching it unfold.

Sucker Punch interrupted Ralts in the middle of charging the energy needed for the attack, making her flinch.

"Now go fer a Water Pulse!"

"Karrablast, cut him off with X-Scissor!"

The blue Bug-type had mellowed out after a night of containment, but was still very aggressive, slashing Sobble right as he was about to shoot off the ring of water, knocking Sobble back, buying Ralts enough time to use Confusion.

"That's enough, Sobble. Good work, laddie!"

Sobble smiled sheepishly at the praise. Wooloo had taken her fair share of hits and had been more or less recalled, walking next to Moira at a leisurely pace watching the action unfold.

"That wasn't really what I'd call a real battle," Moira said as she picked up Sobble and held him as she walked, "But seems like ye won."

"Eh, maybe," Oliver said, scratching the back of his head, "We were all holding back except Karrablast. Still haven't gotten a handle on him yet."

Just then, Cassandra perked up. Scarlet noted this and looked ahead. "Looks like the end of the road. We're finally there, guys."

Oliver stretched his arms. "About time. I can't wait to take a freaking shower!"

And thus Moira laid her eyes on Neoshine City for the first time.

Route 2 passed directly through the center of town, with tall, rectangular, different-colored buildings built on either side of it. No two buildings looked like the same people designed them. It almost looked like some experiment to see what would happen if you took a building from like 40 different cities and crammed them together. Heck, Moira swore she saw a miniature version of Lumiose Tower somewhere in there.

On the ground level there were signs, both neon and otherwise, advertising all sorts of establishments, some legitimate and some not even Scarlet would've been allowed in. The skyline was clear of signs, but the air quality was anything but clear. There wasn't necessarily a cloud of smog hovering over the city, but once you looked above the 20-story mark the color was definitely more muted than ground level.

The traffic was fairly light as they entered the city, owing to the closed road. There was still a fair amount of hustle and bustle from the pedestrians though. Many of them were just going about their normal day, but the opening ceremony tomorrow meant there was more activity than usual from people from elsewhere in Allanza.

Moira stuck by Scarlet's side, looking around at the city in awe. Oliver couldn't help but smile at Moira's wonder at seeing the city for the first time. Scarlet and Cassandra were really the only ones paying attention to where they were walking.

Suddenly, Cassandra began growling. Scarlet looked where she was looking and spotted a man wearing a ragged trenchcoat holding an empty bottle with an uncomfortable look in his eyes, seeming to eye the three for some unknown reason. Oliver and Moira noticed this too.

"I'm thinking we should probably cross the street here," she said. They did so, which luckily wasn't a hassle due to the relatively light traffic.

Moira was beginning to understand why Pine had insisted Scarlet come along. As cool as the city was, two children walking through it unsupervised would not end well.

Now, the Allanza region wasn't the wretched hive of scum and villainy that Orre was. Orre had been ruled by organized crime for as long as any of them could remember, but in Allanza, the crime was… well, unorganized. It's just that when put right next to Orre, the region seemed nearly harmless.

They wound up having to cross the street twice more to avoid drunks before they reached their destination: the hotel and casino Emperor's Palace. It wasn't hard to miss- even if the giant name of the hotel didn't tip one off, the marble statues of Falinks in front were a clear tipoff. This hotel was where the registration for the Gym Challenge was being held.

They entered into an elegant lobby with an ancient Roman theme, the icons of Falinks prominent in artwork throughout. There was a large table with a banner over it reading "GYM CHALLENGE REGISTRATION" and a few trainers had congregated around it to sign up.

Not a whole lot of them were that noteworthy. This one had black hair, that one had an afro, that one was wearing a __wait is that a Gallade?! __

While Oliver did a double-take at one trainer who had a Gallade walking around outside his Pokéball, Moira noticed one trainer in particular, and lightly elbowed him. Looking where Moira was pointing, he saw one trainer finish registering and turn to leave, but their eyes locked and Oliver paled a bit.

"A-Amber?"

Amber huffed and crossed her arms. "Well well well, look who decided to press his luck. The Hand-Me-Down Kid and his team of rejects."

"Oi b***," Moira cut in before Oliver could respond. "Ye wanna f***in' go?"

"Ah, I see you brought your girlfriend, Lady Swears-a-Lot."

"I'll do a lot more than swear, ye c***," Moira continued, "If ye don' mind yer f***in' business."

"Ohohoho," Amber chuckled, sincerely amused. "I see how it is. Oliver can't speak up for himself so he hides behind his girlfriend and lets her do it for him."

"W-well, I mean, we're not…" Oliver weakly said, but found himself ignored.

Amber walked towards Moira and lowered her voice. "So, what was your name again?"

"Moira," the Galarian responded through gritted teeth.

"Gotcha. Well Mary," she said, poking her in the chest, "One girl to another, lemme give you some free advice. You shouldn't stick around Oliver. Guy's a loser. You want to make it through the Gym Challenge? You don't want him dragging you down with him. Dump him. You'll thank me later."

Moira was about to say something cutting to the rich girl when someone passing by accidentally bumped into Amber's shoulder.

"H-hey! Watch where you're going!"

"Oh, sorry!" The trainer responded with a sheepish grin. "Didn't mean to bump into you!" Oliver silently thanked Arceus for cutting the confrontation short before it could come to blows.

This trainer was a girl, a couple years older than Oliver but younger than Scarlet. Her hair was somewhat long and unkempt, the light-green bangs covering her eyes. She was wearing a light brown trilby hat with a white band around it, and a light indigo poncho with white zigzag patterns on it, only white boots visible beneath it.

Amber huffed again. "You had all this room to walk around us," she said, gesturing around them. Indeed there was quite a bit of room for her to avoid them. "What are you, blind or something?"

The girl simply continued to give off that innocent smile. "As a matter of fact…" She wiped the hair out of her eyes, revealing them to be white, milky and glazed over.

Amber went white as a sheet, which was honestly pretty cathartic for Moira to see. "Oh… Oh my… I'm so sorry, I-"

The blind girl waved her hand. "No, it's all right, happens all the time, this isn't the first time this has happened. I just sometimes have a hard time with… well, let me explain." She turned her head slightly. "Hey Gallade, come over here a sec!"

__Wait, SHE was the one with the Gallade? __Oliver thought.

Indeed, the tall white-and-green Psychic/Fighting Pokémon with the blade for an arm walked over to the mystery girl's side.

"My name's Lennoa, and this is… well, it's Gallade, you already knew that."

"I'm Oliver."

"Scarlet. Nice to meet you."

"Name's Moira. And this here's named Amber."

"I can introduce myself just FINE, thank you very much," the still flustered blonde cut in.

Lennoa's smile didn't quit. It was actually getting kinda creepy now. "I'm taking the Gym Challenge too, so I might as well introduce us properly."

Scarlet raised an eyebrow. "How's that work with you being… it has something to do with Gallade, doesn't it?"

Lennoa nodded. "Eeeyup! The two of us grew up together since I was a kid. He's my seeing-eye Pokémon. Literally. We've gotten so close, in fact, that we've actually developed a psychic link."

Oliver's jaw dropped. "No way." __I've heard of this happening with trainers of Psychic Pokémon, but's incredibly rare! __

"Because of that," she continued, "I see through his eyes. Which means I tend to see myself in the third person, and it's really weird walking like that. I tend to bump into stuff, as you saw earlier," she said, scratching the back of her head again. "But hey, I can see."

That's when Moira realized something. "Oi Oliver, Gallade's an evolved form of Ralts, right?"

Oliver blinked. "Yeah, it totally is! Only males can reach that form though. If my Ralts evolved she'd be a Gardevoir. A-and a Kirlia first," he added.

Lennoa was intrigued. "You've got a Ralts?" Oliver responded by turning around and letting Ralts peek out of his backpack. "Those are really rare in Allanza. You're the only other person I've met with one. Where'd you get her?"

"My uncle runs the Daycare on Route 9. Ralts here was abandoned, so I basically took her with me. What about you?"

"Oh, my dad got lucky and caught one in the wild. Gave him to me on my fourth birthday." Gallade nodded silently.

Oliver couldn't see this, as he turned his back to Gallade so Ralts could face him, but Moira noticed her looking up at Gallade with awe, admiration, and… __wait, is she blushing? __

"Anyway, it's been nice talking to you," Lennoa said. "I'd stick around but I take it you haven't registered yet?"

"These guys haven't. I have," Amber pointed out. "Hey wait, why am I still here? I'm not even part of the conversation anymore. I'm going to my room." She turned to leave, walking towards the elevator to go up to the complimentary hotel room the League provided her, then paused and turned back to Oliver. "Final warning. Don't bother taking the Gym Challenge, or my team will pummel your team so hard, they'll be too afraid to come out of their Pokéballs." She walked off towards the elevator.

Lennoa let out a low whistle. "Such a sweetheart. Anyway, I should probably get going too. I, uh, don't do well in crowds. I'll see you on the road once the challenge starts! C'mon Gallade, let's head up to our room." She and her Pokémon walked off in the same direction, most of the other trainers giving her a wide berth, not wanting to incur the wrath of the tall, intimidating Pokémon beside her.

"That was certainly something," a voice from behind Oliver said. "You've already got an archrival and you haven't even started yet!"

Oliver turned and this trainer was also about Lennoa's age. He was wearing a black vest over a blue long-sleeved shirt and black jeans. His long sideswept hair was brown, to match his eyes. He held out his hand. "Name's Crosly. Oliver, right?"

"Y-yeah. I'm Oliver. These two are Moira and Scarlet."

"Nice to meet you guys!" He said, putting one hand in his pocket and leaning to one side slightly. "So, quick question- who'd you get to endorse you?"

"Professor Pine."

"Oh, really? I've heard of her. She teaches Pokémon Habitat Studies at USCA, right?" Oliver nodded. "That's cool." He smirked. "I got endorsed by the former champion."

Oliver's jaw dropped again. "You got __Raleigh __to endorse you?"

"Didn't you know? One of the reasons she stepped down was because she wanted to see some fresh blood injected into the Gym Challenge. Couple years into her winning streak, the League Tournament wound up having the same few people show up each year."

Oliver nodded again. "The Elite Four."

"Almost no one thought they could take her down. So almost no one tried."

"How'd ye get on the Champion's radar?" Moira asked.

"It's a long story," said Crosly. "And it's not as interesting as you might think. Anyway, I've gotta get going. I've got somewhere I need to be." He headed out towards the door to the hotel. "See ya on the road, you guys!"

"Nice to see __some __trainers are friendly at least," Moira said. "Anyway, let's go register already. If we talk with every trainer on their way out we'll be here all day."

"O-oh, yeah, you're totally right." The two of them (and Scarlet) went up to the registration desk, none of them noticing Cassandra looking at the front door where Crosly went out, glaring at nothing in particular.

The registration process went smoothly. They handed their endorsements to the Pokémon League Staff, who were wearing white hats and jackets with a yellow Pokéball logo on the front of both. Scarlet made sure the staff knew she was chaperoning Moira and Oliver (who was registering at the next table over).

"All right," the woman handling Moira's registration said. "You're signed up. Let me just see your Trainer Card real quick." Moira took the card out and handed it to her, and she printed out something and put it on the back. It was a barcode and number. "While the Gym Challenge is in effect, you can use this to get a complimentary room at any participating hotel. Here's your room key for tonight," she added, handing Moira a card key. "That's about it, just show up at the opening ceremony at 9 AM tomorrow."

Moira blinked. "Wait, what's the uniform situation?"

"Oh, the Gym Challenge is a bit more informal here than it is in Galar," Scarlet explained. "Just wear whatever."

"Really? That's weird…"

"Anyway let's head to the hotel room. I really want a shower."

* * *

"No, Cassandra, I can carry these boxes by myself."

Scarlet was carrying a stack of 5 pizza boxes with Cassandra walking beside her, looking concerned. After she finally took a shower she went over to Oliver's room (she was sharing a room with Moira). She decided to get some pizza and they'd all hang out together the night before the opening ceremony. She found a pizza place that was actually pretty cheap and went there.

She walked at a brisk pace, trying to get back to the hotel before the pizza got cold. The hotel was about a 5-minute walk from the pizza place. She was waiting at a crosswalk just before the hotel when Cassandra suddenly turned to look around the corner. Without warning, she bolted.

"Wha- Hey! Cassie!" Scarlet followed as fast as she could without dropping the pizza, bumping into someone. Luckily she didn't drop the pizza.

"Oh! I'm sorry!"

"Oh, no, it's fine," the trainer said, picking up a black briefcase he had accidentally dropped. "I bumped into you trying to run away from an Absol that was running this way."

"That was my Absol. I'm terribly sorry."

The trainer took off, and Scarlet discovered that Cassandra was just sitting there, eyeing the trainer. More specifically, she was eyeing the briefcase.

"Cassandra, what's gotten into- HEY!"

The Absol took off and darted into an alleyway. Scarlet ran after her. __The pizza's gonna get cold at this rate… __

She followed Cassandra for a minute or so before the two finally stopped at a place where the alleyway made a sharp turn. Cassandra looked at Scarlet, sniffed the air a little, and pointed her horn towards the corner.

Scarlet hesitantly approached the corner and peered around it. What she saw was another trainer, a girl this time, who was in the process of receiving a black briefcase, identical to the one the other trainer had on him. Scarlet noted this tidbit of information and examined the man handing it to her.

The man was dressed in a white labcoat and wearing a surgical mask and goggles with his hands covered in long purple gloves, with slicked back black hair. Next to him was a birdlike Pokémon. It was small, with dark purple feathers covering most of its body, getting darker the lower they were, though it had two long, thin, black legs that ended in talons. The exception was the head, whose feathers were the same shade of black as its long beak. On top of its head were two rather large black feathers that. Most interesting were its limbs. They almost resembled wings, but they ended in fingers which had claws coming out of them.

* * *

MASTOX

Plague Pokémon

Poison

Its DNA is rumored to be immune to most diseases. Its needle-like claws can draw them out of humans and Pokémon alike, but can give them to people as well. Before bedside manner was more commonplace, Mastox was the Pokémon of choice for doctors in the Allanza region, but were gradually phased out due to their somewhat creepy appearance.

* * *

Scarlet hid herself to make sure none of them saw her, which thankfully none of them did. She focused on trying to hear what they were saying.

"This should be enough to last you until Arryline City," the man spoke. "As long as you don't get into too many battles. Try not to get caught using it though, if you do, I'll stop supplying you."

"I'll do my best. Thank you. How much did you say it was going to be?"

"I'll take 20% of the prize money you've won by the time we get in touch."

"Fair enough. Again, thank you." Scarlet heard the sound of the girl's footsteps leaving, and started hearing the man's footsteps walking towards her.

Scarlet made herself scarce, not wanting any of them to know she'd been eavesdropping. She and Cassandra booked it back to the hotel.

__What did I just witness…? __

* * *

The man in the labcoat scowled at the alleyway. __Okay, I KNOW I heard footsteps here. __He looked around for anything, any clues as to who was eavesdropping.

Then, he saw something.

Slowly, he knelt down and picked it up. It was a white hair, which looked more like a Pokémon's fur. But what Pokémon was it exactly? A Meowstic? An Absol maybe? Could've been a Hoodlet for all he knew.

He pulled out a cell phone, dialed a number, and let it ring. Someone on the other end picked up.

"Hello, boss? This is the Distributor. I think someone may have listened in on a deal. ...uh-huh. No, the only trace of them was a small amount of Pokémon fur. Want me to send it to Erwin for analysis? ...mhmmm. Okay. Until then I'll just proceed as planned, alright. Got it. Thanks."

He hung up and placed the phone in his pocket, then he took the white fur and stuffed it in a small plastic bag which he also put away before turning to the Pokémon beside him. "Come along, Mastox. We've got three more customers to meet up with."

* * *

_**What's this? The plot? We have one of those?**_

_**Just a heads up I'll be updating less frequently next week due to a family trip, I'll still try to post at least once while I'm away though.**_


	9. Standing on Ceremony

Oliver was chilling in his hotel room. After Scarlet went off to get pizza and he finally got to take a shower, he let Pokémon loose and they were all chilling out watching _Crobatman Returns _on the hotel room's TV. Well, to be more specific, he let all his Pokémon loose except one.

"Hey Ralts," Oliver turned to his Pokémon during one of the more disgusting scenes with the movie's Empoleon-themed villain, "You think I should give Karrablast another chance to meet you guys?" Ralts simply nodded.

"I guess that's worth a shot," Oliver said. He had been reluctant to let Karrablast loose because of how powerful and unruly he was compared to the rest of the team. Letting him run around in a hotel room seemed like a recipe for disaster. But he couldn't just keep him couped up in a Pokéball the entire time. True, he had Karrablast out when they got moving that morning but during sparring he didn't hold back and Oliver was worried he'd injure Moira's Pokémon for real.

Now seemed as good a time as any to try to connect. Oliver took out the call and opened it, and out popped Karrablast.

"Hey Karrablast," he greeted, crouching down to get closer. "I, uh, feel like we should get to know each other more-"

_SLASH _

Oliver jumped back as Karrablast swiped at him. Oliver backed off. "Okay, okay, I get the message. You don't quite trust me yet," he said nervously, his hands held up defensively. "Good to know."

Joltik hopped down to where Karrablast was and began sparking in anger.

"Joltik, no, don't aggravate him-" but it was too late, as Karrablast reacted to the sparking by spraying acid from his mouth. It wasn't a lot, though, and Joltik jumped out of the way quickly, but the acid _did _melt some of the carpet.

"Hey, knock it off, you two!" But the two bugs had begun fighting in earnest. Ralts was waving her arms frantically trying to diffuse the situation, and Tryote was simply watching the fight unfold.

When a spray of acid hit the side of the bed and started eating away at the fabric, Oliver decided enough was enough. He pulled out two Pokéballs and withdrew the both of them. He groaned. "What am I going to do with Karrablast… Course, I can't have Joltik picking fights either." Oliver wondered if Joltik had always been confrontational like that, but never noticed because he only ever had the two Pokémon for the longest time.

Before he could pursue this train of thought any further, there was a knock at the door.

It was Scarlet. "I got the pizza," she said as Oliver opened the door. "Come on up to me and Moira's room, it's bigger… what happened to your room?"

Oliver turned around, seeing the various places where acid had melted the carpet. "I tried letting Karrablast out of his Pokéball outside of a battle. This mistake will not be repeated."

Scarlet cracked a smile. "Well, the important thing is that you learned."

Oliver eventually let Joltik out of his time out, but Joltik just drained from a power outlet instead of having pizza. He also let Karrablast out because depriving him of delicious pizza wasn't exactly a great way to build trust. Luckily, Karrablast mellowed out somewhat once he realized these humans were his new food providers, but still got snappy at any other Pokémon that got close. Can't have them stealing his pizza, after all.

Scarlet didn't tell Oliver or Moira about what she witnessed on the way back. How exactly would she say it in a way that didn't make them freak out? "This pizza's really good. By the way I think I may have witnessed a back-alley drug deal. So you ready for the opening ceremony tomorrow?" No, she kept quiet about it. For now she did the responsible thing, call the police and leave an anonymous tip and figured she'd forget about it come morning.

* * *

The show stage of Emperor's Palace was one of its main draws. A huge crowd gathered to see who this year's hopefuls. The opening ceremony wasn't necessarily required- Allanza's League was much more informal as Scarlet had said- but most of them showed up regardless. The competitors all got front row seats (or at least the first few rows), and Oliver and Moira were sitting next to each other on the 3rd row from the front. They were told they would get to walk up on stage at the end of the opening ceremonies.

"Hey, Oliver," Moira asked quietly, "you recognize anyone here?"

"Let's see… There's Lennoa and her Gallade. I can't see any of the Elite Four though… Oh! Wait, there are two of them on the first row!"

Moira craned her neck and looked where Oliver was pointing.

"That guy with the light blue hair wearing thick winter clothing indoors? That's Wendell, the Ice-type expert. And a couple seats down from him is Tanya, the Fairy-type user."

"She the one with the blonde bushy pigtails and frilly pink dress?"

"That's the one."

"Well where are the other two?"

"Oh, they very rarely show up to the ceremony. Verne doesn't like crowds and Crowley is probably training."

Just then the lights started to dim. It was starting.

A clean-shaven man with nearly-combed black hair and a pinstripe blue suit walked on stage. The man had a rather unremarkable face.

"Welcome, everyone! My name is Rondell, Chairman of the Allanza Pokémon League. Usually the champion would be handling these proceedings but seeing as how she gave up her title, she isn't here. And believe me, I'm as disappointed as you are."

A couple weak chuckles rang from the audience.

"It is my pleasure to announce that the Gym Challenge has officially begun! Each trainer must battle and defeat the eight Gym Leaders, and only those who have collected all eight Gym Badges will be able to compete in the League Championship!"

"Now allow me to introduce a few of those Gym Leaders now! Not all of them though. The Verdance Gym is between Leaders again and Braxton's in the hospital."

"That's hardly a surprise," Oliver whispered. "Braxton has glass bones and paper skin. The guy's like 90. Honestly I think he should've retired a long time ago." Moira nodded in understanding.

"Now then, here they are!"

Onto the stage walked six trainers.

"The Rock-hard boxing champ, Ricky!" Onto the stage walked a tall brown-haired man, built like a brick made out of smaller bricks wearing a loose grey hoodie over red sweatpants. He shadowboxed for a bit, then flexed.

"The high-Flying pilot with her head in the clouds, Amelia!" Next was a dark-haired and dark-skinned woman wearing a violet bomber jacket. Her hair was in two long pigtails. She simply waved to the crowd, smiling.

"The man who built his Gym out of a Water Park, Floyd!" A man with tan skin and loose blonde hair walked onstage, wearing a blue Alolan shirt and orange shorts, and sandals. He walked in with his hands resting behind his head.

"The Electrifying technology prodigy, Gavin!" Next was a tall, thin blonde man with sunglasses and black rubber gloves over a yellow and black jumpsuit. He waved to the crowd, though less enthusiastically than Amelia.

"The Ghost-type master and scholar of the unknown, Dumont!" This one was somewhat pale with nearly-combed dark purple hair and wore glasses, and had on a black tweed jacket. He didn't really show much emotion.

Oliver blinked. "This guy looks kinda familiar…" he whispered.

"And last but not least, the Fighter from the mountains, Mel!" Mel was wearing a white gi over a brown bodysuit, her long black hair tied into a massive ponytail. Like Dumont she had a much more serious demeanor.

"We hope to see some expert battling from all of you! And now… it's time to introduce all the trainers who'll be competing!"

_This is it. _Oliver steeled his nerves. He looked over at Moira, who somehow looked more nervous then he was. Oliver leaned over and touched her shoulder to reassure her, in a gesture that may have seemed romantic at first glance but most definitely wasn't.

Moira smiled at the comforting touch and nodded at him.

One by one the trainers in the first few rows stood up and made their way to the stage. Oliver took his place and stood tall, as did Moira, Amber, Lennoa, Crosly, Tanya, and Wendell.

_This is it. This is where my story begins. _

* * *

"Oh hey, Moira! I couldn't find you after the ceremony, where'd you go?"

Moira hurried to catch up with Oliver and Scarlet, who, as usual, had Cassandra beside her. They started walking towards Route 3 before realizing Moira was taking her time.

"I ran into a trainer who was having a hard time finding a Shroomish. Those things are rather hard to find, it seems. So he traded me for it."

"Oh, really? I don't think I've ever thought about Pokémon trading. What did he give you?"

Moira was about to answer when Crosly came by. "Hey, you guys!"

Crosly waved hello and Oliver responded in kind. Moira and Scarlet both greeted him as well, neither noticing Cassandra's glaring at him. "So how'd you guys like the opening ceremony?"

"Oh, my heart was racing the whole time. What about you, Moira?"

"Honestly, same. Though the Chairman seemed like he was trying too hard. Just dinnae have the same charm that Chairman Rose did back home." She sighed. "Shame he's in prison now… he seemed like a nice guy."

Oliver blinked, wondering what that story was about, though he was fairly certain it involved some 10-year-old catching a Legendary Pokémon.

"Yeah, kinda sucks Raleigh wasn't there this year. Anyway, Oliver." He pulled a Pokéball out of his hand and started tossing it up and down. "How about a little battle?"

Oliver's eyes widened. "Wha- really? Right here?"

"Don't worry, the crowd won't get in the way. They'll probably stand back and watch, actually."

Oliver grinned. "All right, you're on! ...quick question, how big is your team?"

"Oh. Um… It consists of three Pokémon right now."

"I have four, so I think I'll bench one to make it fair."

Moira cringed, remembering how his fight with Amber had gone. "Oliver, I don't think that-"

"Joltik?" Oliver said to the bug on his shoulder. "I think you can sit this one out." Joltik bristled a bit and crawled back into his backpack.

Crosly shrugged. "Suit yourself." The two stepped a few paces away from each other. "All right… let's battle!"

Oliver tossed a Pokéball out. "Let's see how you do in an actual battle! Go, Karrablast!"

Crosly then tossed out his own Pokéball. "Go, Sawbit!"

* * *

SAWBIT

Deep Crawler Pokémon

Water/Bug

Its shell is meant to withstand deep-sea pressure and is hard to penetrate. It needs to breathe water, but can survive on land without it for upwards of 24 hours.

* * *

It was an orange-reddish color, with a pair of pincers and six lobster-like legs at the front. Behind the head was a segmented bit of armor that looked like a shield that was the same orange-ish color and smaller legs hidden underneath it.

The passersby noticed what was going on and started to gather around to watch it. Scarlet had the Pokédex out and was excitedly typing away at it. _Finally, I get to see one of these things in a battle! _

"Oh cool, a Sawbit! I've never actually seen one of those before!" Oliver said. "All right Karrablast, let's try to get through that armor! Use Acid Spray!"

Karrablast didn't move.

Oliver blinked. "Um… Karrablast?"

The blue bug did nothing. It didn't seem to be paying attention.

"You're not gonna attack? All right then, Sawbit, use Razor Shell!"

With considerable speed, Sawbit crawled towards Karrablast and sliced at it with one of its front legs, which had a trail of water running by it. Karrablast was hit, getting thrown to the side. Karrablast charged back at it and used Bug Bite, which did very little.

"Karrablast, what are you doing?! Use Acid Spray!" But Karrablast was moving to the beat of his own drum and went at Sawbit with X-Scissor, which did a bit more damage but not a lot.

"Sawbit, use Poison Fang!" Sawbit once again crawled towards Karrablast and bit down on it with its pincers, this time drips of purple liquid trickling down from the injury.

"Come oooon, Karrablast…" Oliver was basically pleading by this point. But the bug simply went for another Bug Bite and did very little damage.

"All right, Sawbit, finish it off with as mother Razor Shell!" Once again Sawbit struck at Karrablast with a watery claw, sending Karrablast reeling before falling unconscious.

Some of the onlookers were starting to lose interest and started walking off.

_Karrablast, come on… _Oliver withdrew his disobedient (and now unconscious) Bug Pokémon. _I need to work on that. _"All right, Ralts, you're up. That shell may be tough, but let's see it block a psychic attack!"

Ralts jumped out of Oliver's backpack and landed in front of Sawbit.

"Use Confusion!" This time there was no hesitation from his Pokémon, Ralts's horn glowed bright as a mass of purplish energy gathered near her and shot directly at Sawbit's head, surrounding it. The creepy crawly staggered back, not able to tell its left from its right.

"All right Ralts, great work! Now let's try that new move we've been working on! Use Magical Leaf!"

Ralts's horn glowed again, the wind in the area picking up before a few leaves, pulsing with energy, flew in and circled around Ralts before launching at Sawbit. The leaves finally did the job of knocking out the Water-type, even if it wasn't necessarily supereffective.

Crosly withdrew Sawbit. "All right, now THAT was more like it! Let's see you try this one on for size. Go, Flintail!"

Moira, watching the battle, recognized this Pokémon from the one she saw in Pine's lab. It slithered on the ground before it coiled.

"Flintail, use Ember!" Flintail's rattle began sparking and a ball of fire shot out.

"Ralts, use Confusion again!" Ralts did so, the psychic energy and the fireball passing each other before hitting their targets. The fireball scorched Ralts, but Flintail managed to avoid getting confused despite being hit.

"You can take it, Ralts! Use Hypnosis!"

She began to project rings of light that began making Flintail drowsy.

"Use Spark!"

Flintail, though its movements were a bit sluggish, began sparking its rattle again before swinging it into Ralts, the sparks causing an electric shock. Ralts was knocked to the side and couldn't get up, but the hypnosis finally did its job and Flintail fell asleep.

Oliver withdrew the Psychic Pokémon into her Pokéball. "Good work, girl. It's all up to you now, Tryote!" He threw the Pokéball out and the Ground-type popped out.

"Tryote, use Bite!"

"Flintail, use Ember!"

Tryote rushed forward and managed to avoid the fireball by leaping over it, its jaws connecting with the snake before it jumped back, sending Flintail reeling.

"It flinched! Now's your chance to use _your _new move! Hit it with Sand Tomb!"

Tryote howled, a cloud of sand swirling around Flintail and scratching it up.

"Flintail, use Fire Fang!" But it didn't hear him, as the force of the localized sandstorm blocked him out, and shortly after, knocked it unconscious. Crosly withdrew his KO'd snake and pulled out his final Pokémon. "Guess it's all up to you now, Nidoran!"

Unlike Moira's Nidoran, this one was a baby blue, with softer, less sharp features- a female.

Oliver smiled. Like the last one, this would be weak to Tryote's Ground-type attacks. "Tryote, use Mud-Slap!"

Tryote swiped at the ground, causing a hunk of soft earth to get flung at Nidoran.

"Now hit her with Sand Tomb!"

"Nidoran, has Attract!"

Nidoran faced Tryote, then posed cutely and winked, a soft pink light emanating from her. But Tryote, as single-minded as he was, ignored it and once again caused an eruption of sand.

"Nidoran, use Bite!"

Nidoran, sand swirling around her, tried to launch at Tryote, but the storm held her back.

"Finish her off with another Mud-Slap!" Another hunk of soft earth pelted Nidoran and sure enough she was down for the count.

The onlookers applauded as Crosly withdrew Nidoran. He walked up to Oliver and the two shook hands.

Oliver wound up winning 476 Pokédollars as prize money and Scarlet got a chance to record some information on Sawbit, which were incredibly hard to find in the wild (due to their deep sea habitat) and rarely used by trainers.

"That was a good fight," Crosly said. Your Ralts and your Tryote were really strong. But why didn't you use your other Pokémon?"

"Joltik? Oh, because if I had 4 Pokémon and you had 3, that gave me an unfair advantage."

"That's true, but if you meet up with a trainer that has more than _you _, I doubt they'd have the same respect for fairness. I know I probably wouldn't." He began walking towards the Pokémon Center, but he stopped. "Oh, and another thing." He turned around. "You really need to get that Karrablast of yours under control."

"Yeah, I, uh, I noticed," Oliver said sheepishly.

Crosly waved goodbye and walked off, saying he was going to be much stronger the next time they fought. Oliver knew he'd have to heal his Pokémon too eventually, but for now he considered what Crosly said. _Not all trainers will want to play fair… that's true. But if I had a team of 6 and my opponent only had 3 it would feel like a hollow victory, wouldn't it? _

* * *

Unknown to him, from the shadows, a man with a surgical mask was watching the fight play out.

_So Crosly's first opponent was him, of all people. That was certainly pretty intense. _

_But that Karrablast… that couldn't be… could it? _

The Distributor's phone began vibrating. He picked up and answered quickly.

"Erwin! What a pleasant surprise! Did you complete the analysis?"

He listened to his colleague's reply.

"So it _was _an Absol. I guess I should find…" he paused as Scarlet and Cassandra went up and started talking to Oliver about the battle. The Distributor stared right at Cassandra. _No way… _

"I think things may have just gotten a bit more interesting. You said Cole was heading to Rokkraw with a couple Grunts to pick up some fossils? Have him keep an eye out for a black female with red hair accompanied by an Absol, and a younger trainer with black hair, glasses, and a Ralts he keeps out of her Pokéball. He also has a Karrablast."

He once again listened to the reply.

"I dunno. Too early to tell. They might be a threat, they might not. But things definitely just got more interesting for Team Vortex."

* * *

_**Hey, wouldn't it be hilarious if I made references to Moira not recognizing Nidoran and Magneton because they weren't in Galar, and then a week later they showed up in DLC in the equivalent of Scotland?**_

_**Anyway, Sawbit was inspired by the bobbit worm, an absolutely terrifying deep-sea predator that has been cited by atheists as evidence that God cannot exist.**_

_**I apologize if the opening ceremony was too similar to the one in Sword and Shield I also apologize that Tryote has bailed Oliver out in battle twice now. I swear I'm not trying to shill him. I'll do better next time.**_

_**Yeah, this isn't really one of my favorite chapters, but I needed to get it written.**_

_**In response to Twoerlethegreat's review: I'm glad you're enjoying it, and I understand my use of Fakemon might be a bit distracting, but if I'm using my own region, I may as well come up with Pokémon of my own. If you find them distracting, don't worry, there won't be that many of them, maybe 30 (if you count evolutions). **_

_**EDIT: Altered Sawbit's typing. Water/Bug makes more sense than pure Water.**_


	10. Under the Red Hood

Route 1 was dry, Route 2 was heavily forested, and Route 3- which connected Neoshine City with Rokkraw City to the east- was much more of a light green field. The grass was a lighter green color, with the occasional rural house every so often. It was very rarely traversed most of the time, as there was a highway built between the bigger cities Neoshine and Arryline. But due to the first Pokémon Gym being off the beaten path in Rokkraw, it saw a lot of traffic whenever the Gym Challenge started up.

"Boldore, use Magnitude!"

"Joltik, use Electroweb!"

And, of course, Pokémon battles.

Almost immediately after stepping out onto Route 3, a trainer with short black hair and a red track jacket challenged him to a battle.

Oliver, as per usual, only used three Pokémon against his opponent's three. However, he didn't even get to see the other two. This trainer's Boldore was an indestructible wall of pain. It had taken out Karrablast with a couple of Rock Throws, and it cleaned Ralts's clock with an Iron Head.

Joltik fared a bit better, as it was small and fast enough to dodge Boldore's Rock Throw, but a huge, wide-ranged move like Magnitude couldn't exactly be dodged, as it created a seismic wave across the ground. Furthermore, Joltik could barely seem to put a dent in the thing.

In the end, Oliver wound up having to pay out a good chunk of money as prize money, and the trainer, satisfied with his victory, pocketed the money, walked over to grab his belongings which he set down prior to the battle.

Which included a small black briefcase.

Scarlet's eyes widened as she saw it. __Wasn't that… there's no way… __

Oliver, meanwhile, was sulking. "That… that hurt."

Moira patted his back reassuringly. "Dinnae worry, ye'll catch up soon."

Oliver smiled. "Thanks, Moira. But there's something else…" he sat down on a nearby rock. "The moves that Boldore was using… they didn't feel right."

Scarlet raised an eyebrow. "Go on…"

"W-well, I mean, not to sound like a sore loser, but I've never heard of a Boldore use Magnitude before. For that matter, when's the last time you saw a pure Rock type use Iron Head?" Oliver sighed. "I dunno, maybe it's a convoluted breeding chain or something but…"

Scarlet piped up. "Hey, did you notice that trainer had a black briefcase?"

Moira nodded. "Aye. But what's that got tae do with…"

"I need to tell you about something that happened yesterday. While I was getting the pizza. It's like this…"

She told them about the detour she took while chasing Cassandra. About the man in the doctor's uniform selling some sort of illicit substance in the alley. About how it was contained in a black briefcase similar to that one.

"So what you're saying," Oliver said once she finished the story, "is that whatever's in the briefcase…"

"Is somehow connected with that Pokémon using moves it shouldn't, yes."

Oliver hummed to himself. "And you said he sold it to some other trainers. That isn't good. Let's just deal with that as it comes. In the meantime, we've got another problem."

"And what's that?" Moira asked.

"I'm kinda strapped for cash after paying out the prize money for that battle." He stood back up. "And my team isn't in any position to fight any trainers right now. Tryote is the only one who's awake."

"Hey, excuse me?" a man's voice called. The three turned to see an older, graying brown-haired man with a considerable moustache and wearing blue overalls over a plaid shirt. "I couldn't help but overhead you need a way to make some money, is that right?"

Oliver nodded. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Allow me to introduce myself. Name's Trevor. I run a small farm just a few minutes' walk north from here. I've got a bit of a problem that I need a trainer to solve."

"What sort of problem?" Moira asked.

"Follow me. I can explain it to you on the way there."

Scarlet was a bit hesitant to just follow this random man who had an odd job for them, but Cassandra seemed to trust him, and she's always been a good judge of character. So she shrugged. "Lead the way, then."

So the group began walking to his place, a farmhouse just a bit north of Route 3. As they walked, he explained his situation.

"I'm a farmer. I make my living growing vegetables and berries, you see. However, lately something's made it past my fence and started stealing crops. It seems like it's a wild Pokémon but I can't tell what kind it is. Now I used to be a trainer myself when I was younger, but those days are gone and I don't exactly have the speed I used to, so I can't catch it. Don't have any Pokémon of my own either. I want you to track it down and capture it before I lose any more of my crops."

"That seems easy enough," Oliver said.

"Aye, we'll show 'em what for!" Moira added enthusiastically.

"Don't worry, we'll be able to find out what's doing this," Scarlet said. Cassandra mewed in affirmation.

They arrived at the place, a cozy-looking beige house beside a considerably large field with all sorts of plants growing in it. Walking into his field, it was as he had said. The vegetables had been plucked and the berries picked, though from a distance the farm was undisturbed.

"Wow… this place is pretty big. You say you don't have any Pokémon? You handle the farm all yourself?" Scarlet asked.

"Yeeeep," Trevor responded. "The rest of the family ain't interested in farming. So it's just me. And I may not have the speed, but I have the endurance. Still though, I'd love having the extra help, but I'm just too slow to catch any."

Oliver looked at him sympathetically. "Sounds kinda lonely, doesn't it?"

"Eh, I'm used to it."

With that the trainers split up to search for clues, Scarlet and Cassandra looking at the empty berry trees and the younger two searching the ground. They noted that though a good chunk of the field had been ransacked, there were still plenty of crops still present.

The search continued for about half an hour before any of them found anything.

"Hey guys, I think I found some tracks!" Oliver said, calling the others to him. "I think a wild Pokémon made 'em!"

Scarlet and Moira joined Oliver. Indeed, there were tracks, though they appeared rather far apart, as though it was hopping through the dirt.

Scarlet pulled up the Pokedex app on her phone. "Lemme scan it and see what it comes up with," she said as she aimed her phone camera at the tracks and waited for it to load.

"Ah, the wonders of technology…" Trevor said wistfully. "I remember when Bill first created the PC system. Made life real easy for a lot of trainers. Before that we-"

Thankfully before his rambling could gain momentum, the app identified what made the tracks, displaying a picture of the offending Pokémon. Its most defining feature was its ears, which were both red and were massive, larger than the rest of its body and trailed behind it like a hood, almost resembling a Snorunt in shape, only without the sharp point on top. The rest of its small round furry body was a lighter red bordering on pink, except for its feet, which were pure white and very rabbit-like. It had a small triangular nose between its two large eyes, and it had two small stubby arms, between which were held what looked like a picnic basket.

* * *

HOODLET

Delivery Pokémon

Fairy

It crafts a makeshift basket from twigs and leaves, though if they live closer to humans they do often have real ones. They make a point to fill it with all sorts of berries and other such things and are famously protective over their baskets. In Allanza they are often used to deliver mail locally.

* * *

"Looks like it's using the stolen crops to fill its basket," Scarlet said.

"What is it even doing with them, anyway?" Oliver asked.

"Who cares? We need to find it so Trevor can keep growing his crops and we can get paid," Moira said.

Oliver nodded. "Hey Trevor, you mind if we stay the night and look out at the garden?"

"Be my guest," the farmer said.

So as the sun set and Oliver's knocked-out Pokémon rested and regained their strength, the three trainers were observing the untouched parts of the field for any flashes of red, looking through the farmhouse window.

About an hour passed. Ralts and Joltik were well enough to travel in the backpack again, though Karrablast didn't want to be woken up and Oliver didn't want to try. So he left Tryote to watch him and went back to the window.

Trevor had fallen asleep by this point. Scarlet, upon realizing this, made the suggestion that the Hoodlet in question had known the farmer went to bed at this hour and waited until then to raid his farm.

This hypothesis proved correct when Moira noticed a red object hopping towards the fence. "Oi," she whispered to the other two as it drew nearer. "Here comes the wee f***er now."

The Hoodlet, carrying a small brown basket, approached the fence cautiously, looking out for anyone watching. The three trainers backed off from the window in order to stay hidden.

Not seeing them, the wild Hoodlet leaped over the fence and made a beeline for one of the untouched berry trees.

"Bingo," Moira said, grabbing Nidoran's Pokéball and racing for the door.

"Wait, no, Moira! It'll spot you and run away and then-"

But Moira couldn't hear Oliver's warnings over the sound of the door slamming open. Naturally the Hoodlet immediately looked to the source of the sound and saw Moira send Nidoran out. Rather than book it, it hastily shoved as many berries into the basket as it could get and then made a break for it.

"Nidoran! Use Poison Sting!" Nidoran shot a poisoned spine at the fleeing Hoodlet, which struck it in one of the ears, slowing it down. Moira ran after the two. Oliver had just made it out the door with Ralts and Joltik in tow and took off in their direction as well.

Scarlet just stared blankly at the chase until she heard a snort behind her.

"Eh? Wh-what's all the commotion about?" Trevor asked after being roused from his light sleep.

Scarlet simply turned back to the still-open door. "I do believe they've spotted the thief." With that, she gathered Cassandra and followed after the two.

* * *

The Hoodlet ran into a cluster of trees north of the farm, basically a small, not-very-dense forest. It was injured and the poison wasn't helping, but still it pressed on. It cleared a downed log, but tripped, dropping the basket. It quickly sprang forward and caught it just in time, but a few berries spilled out. It tried to pick them back up but had to keep fleeing once Nidoran got close. It narrowly dodged another Poison Sting as it hopped away, still weakened by the poison.

Undeterred, Moira recalled Nidoran and sent out Sobble. "Use Water Pulse!" she said, pointing at the fleeing Pokémon, and Sobble did so, firing a ring of water directly at it, still running after the Hoodlet.

The water struck Hoodlet dead-on, the impact sending it into a tree, though the contents of the basket didn't fall out this time. It regained its footing in time to stand up and before Sobble could fire back, it jumped up into the air, then dove down towards Sobble and attacked him with Pluck, striking Sobble off-guard and taking off into the forest once again.

Oliver turned to Joltik. "Hey, follow them and help Moira take it down, we'll catch up." Joltik nodded and leapt into action. Meanwhile, Oliver knelt down to observe the berries that Hoodlet had dropped. He picked one up and examined it.

"Hey Ralts, isn't this a Pecha berry?" he asked, holding it up to Ralts. Ralts took a bite and nodded, smiling at its sweet flavor.

"I figured as much. But aren't these things natural antidotes? Why wouldn't Hoodlet eat one to cure its poisoning? Something's going on here…" he readjusted the backpack on his shoulders and took off after Moira.

The Galarian trainer wasn't having much success in hitting Hoodlet after that first Water Pulse. Hoodlet seemed to adapt and was able to avoid future Water Pulses fairly easily, in spite of the poison taking its toll. It jumped through a cluster of bushes and out of sight.

Moira stopped to catch her breath, Sobble sticking by, looking up at his trainer in concern. This was when Joltik showed up.

"I'll be fine," she said between breaths. "Did the Hoodlet get away?"

Sobble waddled over to the bush and poked its head through. Apparently surprised by what it saw, it beckoned Moira over. Moira, curious, walked over and knelt down, looking through the bushes herself, as did Joltik.

_What the…? _

The Hoodlet had set its basket down and was passing the berries around to a few Pokémon. This group consisted of a Pichu, an Elekid, a Togepi, an Azuril, a Bonsly… Moira didn't recognize all of them but they clearly all had one thing in common. _They're all wee baby Pokémon, _Moira realized. They looked like they'd been roughing it for a good long while. They were eagerly chowing down on the berries like it was a gourmet meal. The Togepi looked at the Pecha berry it was about to eat, saw Hoodlet's sickened state, and handed it back to it. Hoodlet, reluctantly, took it and took a bite, the sickness beginning to leave.

Oliver began walking up. "Hey Moira, did you catch it?"

Moira shushed Oliver and beckoned him over to see what was happening. Oliver and Ralts both peered into the bushes.

"These are all… baby Pokémon? What are they doing out here? Maybe they got separated from their parents? Or maybe they were bred, and abandoned…"

Ralts's eyes, hidden by her hair, started to water in sympathy, remembering her own origin.

"That Hoodlet was stealing from the farm to feed these guys," Oliver realized. "That's why it didn't eat the berry that could've cured its poison- it was another Pokémon's next meal!"

It was at that point that one of the Pokémon (Moira didn't recognize it, Oliver identified it as a Magby) suddenly noticed something and started to make a small crying noise. Moira was briefly worried they had been discovered, but the Pokémon all looked the other way, away from them.

Out of the brush on the other side emerged three Pokémon- wild Lycanroc, two of them the light brown Midday form but one of them, the one in the center and clearly the strongest of the three, was the fearsome red Midnight form. The babies crowded behind Hoodlet. The Fairy-type was healed of poison but still clearly injured and winded from the attacks Nidoran and Sobble inflicted on it.

The three Rock-type dogs advanced towards them, growling and snarling. Hoodlet, still clutching its basket, suddenly ran up and jumped into the air, landing behind one of the Midday ones and striking it from behind (using a move Oliver recognized as Thief). This got their attention as they turned away from

Moira's eyes widened. "That Hoodlet wasn't just getting them food- it was the only thing protecting them from predators!" Suddenly she felt a little bad for trying to catch it. She very nearly left those babies without anyone watching out for them.

Oliver looked at the fight, as all three of them attempted to use Bite on Hoodlet. It was able to dodge one of them, but the other two connected. And though Dark was not strong against Fairy, it still weakened Hoodlet quite significantly. "Even if Hoodlet was at 100% it'd still have its hands full with them."

The two Midday Lycanroc continued advancing on Hoodlet. The Midnight Lycanroc, however, turned its attention to the babies, who all cowered in fear as it slowly moved on them, growling. The Magby fired off an Ember, which probably wouldn't have done much even if Lycanroc didn't have a typing that resisted Fire.

Oliver gritted his teeth. "Not if I have anything to say about it! Ralts, use Magical Leaf!" The Psychic-type leapt out and burst through the foliage, emerging with a cluster of leaves swirling around her telekinetically. The leaves flew at the Midnight Lycanroc, slicing it up a little, drawing the attention of the other two Lycanroc as well as Hoodlet.

This did quite a bit more damage, but this was still an unevolved Pokémon facing an evolved Pokémon so the damage wasn't overwhelming. Lycanroc's eyes focused on its new target and charged forward.

"Sobble, use Water Pulse!" Sobble fired another burst of water which burst right in Lycanroc's face. That did the trick- Lycanroc fell to the ground, knocked out.

The two remaining Lycanroc whirled on Sobble and Ralts and began charging as well. Hoodlet, injured and nearing unconscious itself, could only watch.

"Joltik!" Oliver cried. "Try hitting them both with Electroweb!"

Joltik leapt out of the bushes and fired electrified spider silk at the two of them. It wasn't enough to wrap them up but it did slow them down, the electricity shocking them.

"Ralts, use Confusion on the one that got hit by Hoodlet earlier."

"Sobble, keep up with the water!"

The already-injured Lycanroc went down after psychic energy assaulted its mind. The one remaining one took the blast of water, and opened its mouth, ready to use Bite on Sobble, when all of a sudden, Hoodlet let out a small yell- a Disarming Voice attack, Oliver noted- that was weak, but distracted Lycanroc enough for Joltik to finish it off with Bug Bite.

All three Lycanroc were downed and a wave of relief crept over the trainers. Hoodlet got back up to its feet, then saw Moira there and jumped, frightened. It backed away slowly.

"L-look, wee one, I'm sorry fer hurting ye," Moira said placatingly as she waved her hands frantically.

"Let me handle this," Oliver said. "Or rather, let Ralts handle it. Ralts?"

The little Psychic/Fairy nodded and turned to the scared group and began chattering away, getting the Pokémon's attention.

Moira turned to Oliver. "What's she doing?"

"I… think she's explaining what's going on, that we didn't mean to put them in danger, but we wanted them to stop Hoodlet stealing from that farm."

As Ralts negotiated, Scarlet and Cassandra caught up. "...What's going on here?" Scarlet asked. Oliver summed up the situation as Ralts finished whatever she had to say. Hoodlet chattered away in response. Ralts turned back to Oliver, then gestured towards the baby Pokémon.

"...You're asking how Hoodlet is supposed to take care of them without stealing?"

Ralts nodded with its head tilted, which basically meant "More or less."

Oliver began to think. _I don't want to leave these baby Pokémon hungry, but Trevor's own livelihood is at stake… _Then, he smiled. "I think I have an idea that'll make everyone happy. Ralts, I want you to ask them something..."

* * *

"Hey Trevor? We're back," Oliver said as he walked in the door, followed by Moira.

"Welcome back!" Trevor greeted happily, if a little tired. "Did you catch that Pokémon?"

"Well, not exactly…" Oliver admitted. "But we were just wondering. If you had Pokémon of your own, do you think you'd have an easier time working this place?"

"Are you kidding? It would make everything much easier! I've just never been able to catch one. But… what does that have to do with the thief?"

"Because it was stealing food to take care of a group of wee baby Pokémon that had been left on their own," Moira explained. "And it just so happens that those Pokémon would be more than happy to give you a hand or five on the farm if they have food and a place to stay. Isn't that right, guys?"

On cue, the small group of baby Pokémon waddled in, looking around cautiously. Trevor looked down at them in surprise before his eyes focused on Hoodlet, which was shuffling into the house, nervously and somewhat reluctantly.

"What do you say? Wanna take them in? You'd have to give them food, but you'd be able to work faster with some extra hands so that oughta make up the difference, right?"

Trevor considered the idea. Then he walked up to the Hoodlet, looking down at it. The big-eared Fairy-type looked down at the ground in a gesture that would've been a bow if it had actual legs.

"I, uh, think it's trying to apologize," Oliver suggested.

Trevor knelt down, prompting Hoodlet to look up at him.

The farmer smiled, then started to pet it, scratching its ears, making the little Pokémon smile. "I'll take good care of 'em. I'll make sure they grow up strong," he said. Hoodlet looked up at him in relief. The baby Pokémon crowding around him, all clamoring to introduce themselves.

* * *

Trevor was incredibly grateful. The stealing would stop and now he had a lot more help around the farm. Not only did he pay the trainers like promised (not a whole lot, mind you, but it was enough) but he even let them stay the night. When they awoke and got ready to head out, Trevor stopped and handed them one last thing.

"It's one of them Technical Machines they use to teach moves," he said. "I found this at a yard sale and got it on impulse, but I've never had a use for it. You'd probably be able to make use of it."

Moira took it. "Th-thanks," she said.

"Don't mention it," he said. "It was just taking up space anyway. Good luck with your Gym Challenge!"

Nodding, Moira pocketed the TM and turned to leave, joining Oliver, Scarlet, and Cassandra as they resumed their hike down Route 3. They had hardly been walking for a minute before they heard a small cry behind them. They turned and the Hoodlet was tailing them.

"Oh, hey little guy!" Oliver said, kneeling down. "What's up? Do you… you wanna come with us?"

Hoodlet pointed at one of the Pokéballs hanging from Oliver's belt, then to itself.

"I'm guessing she does," Scarlet said, having checked whether Hoodlet was male or female the night before.

Oliver took one of his empty Pokéballs, then stopped. "You want to catch her, Moira?"

"Hm? Oh, no," she shook her head. "I almost knocked her out before we found out about the babies, so I don't feel like she's very happy with me."

"Well, she did seem pretty upset when she saw you after the fight," Oliver said. "All right then, guess it's me." He turned to Hoodlet and threw the Pokéball, which opened up and drew Hoodlet inside, basket and all. It didn't even shake, just locking shut almost immediately.

Oliver picked the ball up and pocketed it. "She'll do great. I can tell." Then he looked to the rest of the group. "Shall we then?" Moira and Scarlet nodded, and they proceeded down the road to Rokkraw City- and the first Gym.

* * *

_**So just a heads up, class is starting for me this week so I apologize if the updates slow down. I'll try to keep up my normal rate of 2 posts a week, but I can't guarantee it.**_

_**Also, Hoodlet was inspired by Little Red Riding Hood.**_


	11. Breaking Point

"Is that Rokkraw up ahead?" Moira asked.

"Yep. That's it," Scarlet replied.

Rokkraw was a small but bustling city nestled into the rocks and mountains directly to the east. The buildings were short, with very few of them breaking 2 stories. They all had a very metallic bent to them, the buildings being earthy or metallic colors as a whole.

The most notable building in town, which was visible even from Route 3, was the Rokkraw Gym, a large stadium which was not only built at a slightly higher elevation, but was 4 stories tall.

As the fields gave way to a more rocky landscape, Oliver was approached by another trainer, this one a girl with dark red hair, freckles, and dressed in green like Oliver was, and was carrying a large brown bag.

"Hey, would it be all right if I challenged you to a Pokémon battle?" She asked.

Moira huffed, a little miffed that Oliver was getting challenged all the time but she wasn't. But Oliver replied "I'd love… Actually, can you hold on just a sec?"

"Sure!"

Oliver turned to the other two. "Did either of you notice that one of those black briefcases is hidden in her bag?" he whispered.

Moira looked over to the trainer, who was busy looking between two Pokéballs to choose who she'd lead with so she didn't notice.

Sure enough, poking out of her bag was indeed that familiar black case.

"Aye… so what will ye do?"

"I'm going to fight her. With my entire team this time. Scarlet, I need you to write down all the moves that her Pokémon use so I can see if they actually match."

"Will do."

Oliver turned. "All right, I'm ready! You're on! Go, Tryote!" He sent out the Ground-type, who landed on the ground ahead of him.

"Go, Magmar!" The ducklike Fire Pokémon emerged right in front of Tryote.

All right, I'd better not let up with the Ground moves. "Use Sand Tomb!" Tryote immediately generated a swirl of dust that surrounded Magmar.

"Magmar, use Incinerate!" A burst of flames erupted from the sandstorm, lightly singing Tryote, who wasn't hurt too badly.

"Use Mud-Slap!" Tryote kicked dirt into the Magmar, who had forced its way out of the Sand Tomb. The dirt landed in Magmar's face, hampering its vision.

"Shake it off, Magmar! Use Scald!"

Oh, that's bullsh**, thought Oliver as Magmar- the Fire-type- spat out a considerable spray of boiling water, which not only compounded the burns Tryote already had but also did supereffective Water damage to Tryote. Oliver looked back at Moira and Scarlet, who clearly shared the sentiment (Scarlet poring over the Pokédex to see if there was some complicated breeding tree where that was possible).

Deciding to withdraw Tryote before he could be KO'd again, he recalled him and sent out Ralts, lamenting that Tryote was his only real counter to Fire.

"Use Confusion!" Ralts's horn glowed as a wave of Psychic energy gathered towards Magmar, disorienting it. This, combined with the wear and tear of Sand Tomb, brought Magmar down, the fire growing less intense as he collapsed.

The trainer recalled her downed Pokémon and threw the next one out. "Go, Mawile!" The little odd, toothy Steel/Fairy type entered the field.

"Ralts, use Hypnosis!"

"Mawile, use Iron Head!"

Mawile dashed towards Ralts headfirst, glowing with a silverish light as it rammed into Ralts at full force. Ralts was knocked out cold in just one hit.

Oliver recalled Ralts. Yeah, Ralts can dish out the pain like the best of them, but one strong Steel-type move like that and it's all over. Though I feel like Ralts could've hung on… "Go, Joltik!"

The Bug/Electric-type sparked, ready to take on Mawile.

"Use Electroweb!"

"Mawile, use Fire Fang!"

Joltik zipped around the field, charging electricity for the web. All right, Fire Fang will knock Joltik out cold, but Joltik can easily outspeed that thing and avoid-

The second Joltik got close to Mawile, it spun around with unnatural quickness and precision and bit down on Joltik with burning red fangs, before Oliver even had a chance to blink. Joltik was down.

How?! There's no way a Mawile can be this fast!

He sent out Karrablast, who was knocked out just as quickly despite being physically tougher than Joltik and Ralts. Oliver reached for his Pokeballs, but stopped. He only had his injured Tryote and Hoodlet left. He knew Hoodlet would get one-shotted by Iron Head and Tryote would get KO'd by pretty much anything, so Oliver just withdrew his downed Karrablast and said, "All right, I give up. You win."

After he paid out the prize money- I just got that, he internally sobbed- the trainer turned and left. Oliver went to a nearby rock and sat, looking a few different flavors of glum.

Moira sat down next to him. "It's just a losing streak, Oliver, dinnae let it get tae ya."

"It's not just that. If this was just a normal losing streak I'd just go train some more. But this… Why should I even keep going when everyone else is just gonna cheat their way to the top? What's the point?" He threw his arms up. "I give up."

Moira's eyes widened. "Ye- ye cannae be serious!"

Oliver looked at her. "No, I am serious. I'm gonna withdraw from the Gym Challenge."

"Oh wow, you're actually talking sense!" Said a familiar condescending voice in mocking surprise.

Amber walked towards them, her blouse now graced by the Geode Badge, shaped like a black hexagon with a shimmering white square at the center. "I've been trying to warn you that you'd be demolished out there. You didn't listen, but eh, better late than never."

"Hey, it's not his fault, okay?" Moira shouted. "It's only because of-"

"Moira, please, stay out of this," Oliver said with a tired voice. He turned back to Amber. "Yeah, I'm dropping out, gonna train up a bit, come back next year-"

"Next year?" Amber snickered. "Oliver, you used your entire team on that girl and you STILL lost. On her second Pokémon! What makes you think next year will be any different?"

She poked him in the chest. "You're a failure this year and you'll be a failure next-"

She didn't finish that sentence, as during her little rant, Moira had strolled over to her and slapped her right across the face.

Amber didn't bother to look forward again at first, Moira's hand still hanging in the air. Finally she spoke. "Did… did you just-"

"Yer f***in' right I just did that, and I've got half a mind to do it again! So ye've got some fancy bred Vulpix, and so Oliver's havin' a bit of a losing streak. So what?! Aside from my Pokémon, Oliver's the first friend I've had in years and I'm not gonna stand for this anymore! Amber, I challenge you to a Pokémon battle! Right here, right now!"

Amber slowly turned her head to face Moira, glaring daggers, her cheek still stinging. "Fine. You asked for it."

Oliver started to panic. "Moira, y-you don't have to do battle her just because of me."

"Look. Oliver. Mate. I'm not going to just stand there and let her abuse you like that." Oliver shut up.

He couldn't help but watch Moira in awe and admiration as she took her place opposite Amber, one single thought dominating his mind:

I… I think I'm in love…

"Go, Vulpix!" Amber's star Pokémon emerged from her Pokéball, her snowy appearance a stark contrast to the dry grass around them.

"Go, Sobble!" Moira tossed out her own ace Pokémon, the Water-type looking around hesitantly before standing his ground, clearly remembering what Vulpix did to Joltik.

"Use Hail!" Amber shouted, as Vulpix once again summoned a hailstorm.

As Vulpix began to shimmer out of focus as a result of her Snow Cloak, Amber chuckled. But her expression fell when Moira began to smirk.

Time for that TM the old man gave me to come in handy! "Sobble, use Swift!" Sobble's hands glowed as glowing stars formed in them, then he flung those stars at Vulpix. Vulpix tried to dodge, its evasion boosted by the hail, but the stars circled back around and struck her anyway. Sobble was struck by hail but that wasn't much of an issue.

"Vulpix, use Moonblast!" Amber shouted, as an Ice-type move wouldn't do much to a Water-type.

As energy began to collect above Vulpix, Moira shouted "Quickly, Sobble, use Tearful Look!" Sobble looked Vulpix directly in the eyes and then began to softly cry, eyes watering.

Vulpix's focus wavered and the resting burst of energy wasn't as strong as it could have been. Sobble took the hit but wasn't knocked out just yet.

"Go fer another Swift!"

"Moonblast him again!"

Vulpix began to form another ball of light as Sobble launched another volley of star-shaped projectiles. The stars made contact just as Vulpix released the energy.

The Ice-type was knocked back but not done yet. Sobble, meanwhile, was exhausted and basically knocked out, looking ready to fall over any second.

"Ye did good, lad! Come back," Moira said, recalling the barely-standing Sobble. She pulled out another Pokéball, the one she got by trading Shroomish, and looked at it. Time to see what yer made of! "Go, Tyrogue!"

The small humanoid Fighting-type emerged and faced down Vulpix as the hail began to die down, Vulpix's shimmering coming to a stop.

Amber didn't seem to notice. She looked like wanted to laugh. "Tyrogue? Isn't that a baby Pokémon? Whatever. Vulpix, use Moonblast!"

"Tyrogue, use Mach Punch!"

Before Amber could even blink, Tyrogue had already cleared the ground between them, his fist planted directly in Vulpix's face.

Amber's jaw dropped. "What-?"

Vulpix was pushed back and hurt by the hit but it was uninterrupted in its use of Moonblast.

Amber's shock turned into a smirk. "That hurt, but not as much as this is gonna-"

"Tyrogue, use Protect!"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Amber shouted, losing her cool.

Tyrogue braced itself, a wall of blue shimmering into existence as the sphere of energy burst into a flash of light. When everyone's vision returned, Tyrogue was standing there unharmed.

Amber was standing there in shock.

Moira smirked. "Mach Punch."

Tyrogue zipped forward, punching Vulpix again. This time, Vulpix didn't get back up, laying unconscious where the punch had knocked her.

Amber was speechless. "Y-y-you…" she stammered, then she regained her composure and huffed. "Don't look so smug. I've still got two more Pokémon left."

Moira withdrew Tyrogue and took out Wooloo's Pokéball. "Let's see, then! Go, Wooloo! She threw it, the sheep taking its spot and kicking at the dirt like a bull.

"Go, Lotad!" Amber shouted. The Water/Grass type sat there on the ground. "Use Bubble!"

"Wooloo, use Headbutt!"

Wooloo charged forward through the bubbles, not interrupted by their bursting as it collided with Lotad, knocking it around as well.

"Grrr… Lotad, Mega Drain! Now!"

Lotad began to shake as greenish energy began flowing from Wooloo to Lotad, healing some of its wounds, causing the Normal-type to stagger slightly.

"Okay lass, use Payback!"

Wooloo slammed into Lotad at full force, fueled by the pain of losing energy and knocking it out cold.

Oliver couldn't believe what he was seeing. Amber was absolutely demolishing her team!

Scarlet seemed to notice Oliver's awe. "Amber focused too much on training her Vulpix. Once her ace is taken care of, the rest should be child's play."

Scarlet spoke too soon, however. Amber grumbled as she withdrew Lotad. "You haven't won yet. I got one more Pokémon left. Try taking this one down! Go, Torkoal!"

The Fire-type tortoise stepped out onto the field, smoke pouring out of its shell. Moira's eyes narrowed. Wooloo was at a disadvantage here. True, her wool enhanced her defenses, but it was also quite flammable.

"Wooloo, use Headbutt!" She began to rear head back in preparation to charge towards Torkoal.

"Torkoal, use Flame Wheel!"

Torkoal cloaked itself in flame and slammed into Wooloo, the sheep taking damage from it and its wool being singed somewhat. Torkoal seemed unscathed.

"Go for another one, Torkoal!"

As Torkoal surrounded itself in flames, Moira withdrew Wooloo, not caring that its next attack would connect. In fact, she kinda hoped it would. "Go, Nidoran!"

Nidoran took the brunt of the impact of Flame Wheel, but its spines dug into Torkoal as it did so, infecting it with poison. The Poison Pokémon was dazed, but wasn't down yet.

"Sorry 'bout that, Nidoran! Use Double Kick!"

Slowed down by the poison in its system, Torkoal didn't react in time to protect itself from being kicked twice by Nidoran. It didn't do much damage, but compounded with the poison, Torkoal was weakening.

"Now use Horn Attack!"

"Use Ember, keep it at a distance!"

Torkoal shot a ball of fire at Nidoran who was charging headfirst with his horn forward, not seeing the approaching fire.

"Nidoran, dodge it!"

Hearing his trainer's voice, Nidoran swerved to the left, just barely avoiding getting burned again and jumped in the air, slamming his horn into Torkoal, managing to hit a weak spot in its shell.

Torkoal grumbled and collapsed to the ground, the smoke from its shell stopping.

Moira had taken out Amber's team and the only Pokèmon she lost was Sobble.

Amber stood there slack-jawed. "I… I lost? But I… I beat the Gym Leader before you! Vulpix was bred specifically for battle! How did I-" her expression soured.

"Hmph. The other two Pokémon didn't pull their weight. Lotad especially," she muttered, uncaring if the other trainers heard her. "I'm going to give them a serious talking to once they recover, maybe I should just release Lotad. Then I'm gonna train them so hard-"

"Okay, I think I have to step in now," Scarlet said, looking uncharacteristically angry. Cassandra looked at her trainer, somewhat concerned.

Scarlet stood over Amber, making them all suddenly aware of how tall she was, a fact they forgot as Scarlet tended to be a wallflower.

"Amber," she said harshly. "Your Pokémon fought as hard as they could. If they were weak, it's only because you did a lousy job training them."

Amber regained her composure. "Maybe. But some Pokémon are just inherently stronger than others."

Oliver stepped in. "That's true. But in the end, the skill of the trainer is more important than the strength of the Pokémon, isn't it?"

"Really?" Amber said skeptically. "Then a trainer with a Sunkern could beat a trainer with a Metagross if they're just really, really good?"

"Well that's hardly a fair comparison-"

"And if that's the case," Amber said, pointing at Oliver, "What's that say about you, as a trainer, needing someone else to fight your battles for you?"

Oliver shut up after that.

Amber put her Pokéballs away. "This isn't over." She turned on her heel and made her way to the Pokémon Center, though she mumbled "I guess I can give Lotad a chance…"

With Amber out of earshot, Moira turned back to Oliver, his expression unreadable.

Finally Oliver gave a slight smile, and spoke. "Thanks for kicking her off her mighty Mudsdale," he said.

"It was nothin' really. I've wanted to do that since we met."

"So… about what Amber said," Scarlet asked, "it doesn't bother you?"

"Of course not!" Oliver said. Then, after a moment, he sighed. "Well… I mean..."

He sat back down, Moira sitting next to him.

"She's right about one thing. I need to be able to fight my own battles." He turned to Moira, smiling confidently. "Once these guys recover, you and me are gonna spar. A lot. Need to be completely prepared when I fight the Gym Leader tomorrow."

Moira beamed. "So you're over that whole quitting thing?"

"What can I say?" he shrugged. "Seeing Amber eat some humble pie was invigorating."

So Oliver, his confidence restored, went into the town and made a beeline for the Pokémon Center, ready for the challenges that awaited him.

But the knowledge that there was some sort of cheating afoot remained at the back of their minds. As did the man in the surgical mask who was apparently behind it...


	12. Enter Team Vortex, Part 1

Strategically placed right across the street from the earthy-colored, reddish-brown stadium that was Rokkraw Gym, the Pokémon Center was its normal pristine white-and-red, standing out from the more worn-down and eroded aesthetic of the rest of Rokkraw. The interior was, of course, identical to all the others. The Pokémon Centers all throughout Allanza were all built and run by the same organization, after all.

In the softly-lit, white-walled waiting room, Amber was waiting patiently for her Pokémon to be healed. She had just gotten them healed after the battle against Ricky, and she was frustrated that she was back here again, so soon. Luckily the nurse seemed to understand.

She saw Oliver and his tagalongs enter and she pointedly avoided making eye contact. Mercifully the foul mouthed Galarian lass didn't want to start anything else, seeing as she won their last battle and probably felt pretty smug about herself. She and Oliver merely deposited their injured and KO'd Pokémon to be healed and sat down to wait, just chatting that same inane chatter she expected from them.

Oliver had that stupid smile back on his face. Of course he did. No one was really expecting anything from him. He didn't have any pressure to win. He was just some darkhorse from the suburbs of Shorevul. Not like her. Of course he'd treat this whole thing like a joke.

That was when the P.A. chimed in.

_Ding ding ding-ding diiing!_

_Ms. Amber Stern, your Pokémon are fully healed. Please come to the front desk to take them back._

She got up, ignoring the eyes that darted to her when her last name was spoken.

Amber took back her three Pokémon, promising herself that she'd give Lotad another chance, but that wouldn't stop her from working that thing to the bone.

She was just about to leave when the nurse spoke up.

"Hey, I was wondering since you came in here earlier… you wouldn't happen to be related to Gregory Stern, would you?"

"Yeah, I am," Amber said, a bit more roughly than she probably should have.

The nurse didn't seem to notice her harsh tone of voice. Instead she smiled broadly. "It's so lovely that you decided to follow in his footsteps! He was basically a one-man Elite Four back in his day, you know."

"I know." _Because people just won't shut up about him!_ Amber's eyes kept flickering to the door, hoping for an out so she could leave.

"It must've been hard for him when his Froslass was crippled like that. He might've become champion that year if he didn't have to pull out."

_Yeah, it's not like the announcer of the Gym battle already milked my relationship with him for all it was worth._

"Well, I'm going to succeed where he failed," Amber said, hoping this would give her the chance to leave.

"I don't doubt that for a second. Come back any time you need our assistance!" The nurse said, oblivious to Amber's discomfort.

The trainer swiftly turned on her heel and left, walking faster than normal. Normally when she got like this, she'd take it out on Oliver. But the last time she did that, her team was taken down by his vengeful girlfriend, so she simply glared at him on the way out.

Of course, he was distracted reading that infernal Crobatman comic, so he didn't even notice.

Amber strode purposefully out of the Pokémon Center, not oblivious to the whispers of some of the adult trainers in the building, the ones who would've remembered Gregory in his heyday.

_Yeah. I'm gonna win this tournament._

_Then, maybe… then people will know me as more than just "Gregory Stern's Daughter."_

* * *

While Oliver and Moira were healing their teams, Scarlet went up to the Gym's lobby to talk to the Pokémon League staff. The lobby was dimly lit by light fixtures dangling from the roof, but not in a way that made it seem run-down or poorly-maintained. It gave the place a feeling of being close to home, the sort of feeling you'd get in a small local arena, the place underdogs are born. The color scheme on the inside reflected the exterior- muted reds, oranges, and browns.

Scarlet and Cassandra walked up to one of the League Staff members. "Excuse me, miss?"

"The registration desk is over that way," she responded automatically.

"Oh, I'm not here to compete. I'm here because I'm worried there might be foul play among some of the competitors."

Scarlet had her attention now. "Ever since the opening ceremonies I've seen a few battles. And something didn't seem right about them. It seems as though they're using moves that they shouldn't be able to, and I'm worried there might be foul play involved."

"It's true that breeding practices can go a bit far sometimes," the staff member replied, "but they aren't grounds to disqualify anyone. I totally understand your frustration, but there's nothing I can do."

Scarlet wanted to protest, wanted to say it was more than the moves and it couldn't just be breeding, that the Pokémon were way stronger than they should be to the point of being unnatural, and since when can a Magmar use water-type moves?! But without any solid proof aside from black briefcases she didn't know what the heck was in them, she could only keep quiet.

"Just… got suspicious is all, and thought I'd bring it to your attention. C'mon Cassandra."

She turned to leave, but when she was almost at the entrance, Cassandra stopped, turning her head to the right.

"What's wrong, Cassie?" Scarlet asked, before looking where she was looking. A young man was standing by the wall, with brown hair, brown eyes, light skin and wearing mostly brown except for the white shirt underneath and green pants.

He smiled. "I wanted to talk to you outside, but your Absol beat me to it. Name's Spencer."

"I'm Scarlet. And this is Cassandra. Can I help you?"

Spencer put his hands in his pockets. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with the staff."

"Oh, that?" Scarlet asked. "It was, uh, it was-"

"You noticed it too."

Scarlet halted what she was about to say. "I beg your pardon?"

Spencer simply smiled. "Pokémon using moves they shouldn't. Most of the time they use moves just plausible enough that most people won't question it."

He was right. A Rock-type like Boldore using Magnitude wouldn't really raise too many eyebrows. Even Magmar using Scald wasn't too far removed from the realm of plausibility because despite the type mismatch, the move causing burns was very in character for a Fire-type, plus Magmar's mouth gave it a slight resemblance to Psyduck and Ducklett, both Water-types, meaning one could surmise they were distant relatives.

"I want to put a stop to it. But most people aren't observant enough notice anything is wrong, as you just found out." He leaned against the wall, thn continued. "So my plan is to take the Gym Challenge myself. I'm not planning on entering the finals or anything. I just want to find out how they're cheating and expose them."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because, well, I'm not really the best at battling. My team isn't really bred for battle and one of the cheaters would rip them to shreds. So I was hoping I might team up with another trainer. And seeing as you're the first one I've met who's realized something's up, I was wondering if you'd be okay teaming up?"

Scarlet blinked. Then she shook her head. "I'll have to decline. I gave up being a trainer a long time ago and I promised myself I'd never battle again."

Spencer frowned, then nodded. "I see. So you're not taking the Gym Challenge?"

"No, well, kind of… I'm just a chaperone for two other trainers."

"Ah. Then we might see each other around then." Spencer walked out of the stadium doors. "It was nice meeting you, Scarlet."

As Scarlet began to leave as well, Cassandra stopped, looking around the lobby as though she sensed something. Not seeing anything, she caught up to Scarlet and followed her outside, completely oblivious to the figure hidden above the dangling lights, watching them.

* * *

"Sobble, use Swift!"

Sobble generated a series of stars again and flung them at Oliver's Hoodlet.

"Use Pluck!"

Hoodlet leapt into the air, the stars following behind her, forming a trail. Hoodlet struck Sobble and flung itself back into the air, but was unable to ditch the stars.

They impacted Hoodlet and knocked her out of the air, sending her crashing to the ground.

"Use Water Pulse!"

"Dodge it and use Thief!"

Sobble launched a burst of water at Hoodlet, who regained her balance and, at the last second, swiftly dodged and struck Sobble from behind before anyone could see what was happening.

Oliver and Moira were standing north of Rokkraw on Route 4, toughening their Pokémon. The more defined road had given way to a few trails, each ascending the foothills to the north of the city, with the only foliage being the odd bush here or there. This was actually the first time Oliver had ever actually used Hoodlet in a battle, even though this was just sparring and not a real battle.

"Good work, Hoodlet, come on back! Karrablast, you're up!"

Hoodlet hopped back to the rest of Oliver's team on the sidelines. Which very conspicuously lacked Karrablast.

"Um… Karrablast?"

Oliver heard a rustling in the nearby bushes, one of which had a few various kinds of berries on it. Groaning, he walked over to the bush and bent down.

"Karrablast? Buddy? We need to train-"

He was cut off when, from within the bush, a burst of acid sprayed out and covered Oliver, hitting his face and upper body.

He didn't react at first, simply ceasing his speech as the tingly liquid dripped off him, Moira watching in shock, her hands flying to her mouth. The Pokémon of both trainers simply stated from the sidelines, eyes widened.

_Never in my life have I been more glad I wear glasses_, he thought.

"Hey, uh, Sobble?" Oliver asked, the acid starting to sting. "You, uh, wouldn't mind using Water Gun on me?"

Sobble resounded by spitting up a fountain of water that doused Oliver with a jet of medium-pressure water, soaking him.

"Thanks." Oliver reaches into his backpack and pulled out a small cloth, then took off his glasses and proceeded to wipe them off with the cloth. He let out a long, heavy sigh.

"What am I gonna do with you, Karrablast…" Oliver grumbled.

"I'm surprised you haven't released him yet," Moira pointed out.

Oliver shook his head. "I'm not giving up on him. I'll get through to him soon. Just… it'll probably take a while. But I'm not going to abandon him."

The image of a baby Ralts, crying, unwanted in the corner of the Daycare floated into his mind uninvited.

"If you say so," Moira said. Oliver put his glasses back on, then pulled out a Pokéball and withdrew Karrablast, the Bug-type kicking and screaming as it was dragged out of the bushes.

Oliver pocketed the Pokéball and sat down on a nearby rock, head resting on one of his fists. Moira sat down next to him.

"Hey, Oliver, if you don't mind me asking… why do you want to be the Champion?"

Oliver pondered a bit. "I think it was Raleigh, actually."

Moira tilted her head. "What about her?"

"When she first became the champion," he explained, looking wistfully into the distance, "she would do interviews all the time. And she always, ALWAYS spoke out about Pokémon abuse and Pokémon abandonment."

* * *

_A young Oliver, cradling a newly-adopted Ralts in his arms and Joltik resting in Oliver's hair, fixed his eyes on the TV. Raleigh was giving an interview shortly after defending her title for the first time (of many)._

_"__So is there anything about the competitive Pokémon scene that you wish to discuss?" The interviewer asked, a woman with brown hair and blue eyes wearing a pink blouse, dark blue skirt and glasses._

_Raleigh put a finger to her chin. Her purple hair wasn't as long as it would be at the end of her career, only going to her neck. She also didn't have her trademark black beanie yet, though she was wearing her typical black jacket._

_"__There is, actually," she said. "Pokémon breeding has been a part of official tournaments for a long time. That's never going to change. But it still upsets me. For every hatched Pokémon that meets the trainer's criteria, there are probably 5 that didn't. At least. Where are they? Maybe they'll get adopted if they were lucky, but more likely they'll get thrown out into the wild to fend for themselves or just stay abandoned and unwanted."_

_Oliver found himself unconsciously stroking Ralts's hair, remembering the situation she was in not long ago. He thought about Joltik, who was thrown back into the wild unprepared because his original trainer didn't want him._

They're the lucky ones, _he thought._

_"__I love Pokémon battles. But I also love Pokémon. And they're not just weapons, tools to be thrown away when they break. They're our partners. Our friends."_

_Oliver looked at Raleigh, at the sincerity in her deep blue eyes. He looked at her, as she cast a light on the ugly underside of Pokémon training and he realized something._

_"__I'm going to be just like her one day."_

* * *

"If I can become Champion, I'll be able to do that same thing. Speak out on behalf of Pokémon cast out because they aren't strong enough or aren't the right color or what have you. I might save some Pokémon, somewhere, from having to go through what Ralts and Joltik did.

Moira's team had gathered to listen to his story. She understood now why he was so bent on keeping Karrablast. If it were here, she would've released him well before now.

Moira let the silence sink in for a bit, before a slight smile crept to her face. "Sounds like you had a crush," she said, trying to lighten the mood.

Oliver blushed, whirling around to face her. "I did _not!_"

She playfully hit him on the shoulder. "You totally did."

"I totally did," Oliver admitted, looking down with a slight nostalgic smile. Moira chuckled a little, causing Oliver to join in. He turned to her, smiling. "Well that's my backstory. What about you."

Moira's eyes widened a bit, her thoughts basically interrupted by a record scratch. "Me?"

"Yeah," Oliver said. "Why did you want to enter the tournament? Come to think of it, didn't you say you took part in one in Galar a couple years ago?"

Moira began sweating. "Well, y-ye see, I-"

"WAIT! STOP!" Cried a woman somewhere nearby, sounding out of breath from running.

On one of the lower trails, visible from where Oliver and Moira were standing, was a woman, a little on the heavier side wearing green, chasing after someone else, evidently fleeing.

The fleeing… man? Oliver wasn't sure. Anyway, they were clad in a dark purple outfit that resembled a labcoat, with black gloves and boots. Their belt had a few Pokéballs on it. In their arms was something that looked like a rock.

Seeing the pursuing man stop and catch his breath, Oliver withdrew Hoodlet and Tryote, let Ralts and Joltik into his backpack, and slid down the gravelly hill to the lower trail.

"Wha- where are ye going?" Moira asked, but Oliver was already out of earshot. She shrugged, withdrew her team as well and followed suit, though went at a slower pace than Oliver did.

"Hey, miss!" Oliver said as he touched down near the panting woman. "Are you all right? Who was that guy?"

"That thief… he stole that fossil from me. I collect fossils, you see," she said, having caught her breath as Moira approached. "This guy broke into my home with his Pokémon and attacked me with it. Then he took one of my fossils, an Anorith claw fossil, and bolted."

Oliver raised an eyebrow. "And you didn't call the police?"

"Well I would have… but he took my Pokémon hostage, and said if I called the cops, I'd never see Missy again!"

Moira gasped. "That's just awful…"

Oliver clenched his fists in anger. Then, he had an idea. "You know… I got a Pokémon who specializes in stealing things. Maybe I could catch up with him and-"

"Oliver, no," Moira said firmly, tugging on Oliver's sleeve. "No way. This is a terrible idea. You could get seriously hurt!"

"I know. But at the same time I couldn't imagine what it'd feel like if anyone stole Ralts. Or Joltik. I'm just going to rush in, have Hoodlet snatch the stuff back, and book it. Besides, I thought you were the one who was always up for a fight?"

"Oliver…" Moira massaged her forehead. "There's a difference between picking a fight with a spoiled b**** and an actual criminal."

"Point taken. But I'm not changing my mind."

"Seriously, why are ye so f***in' insistent on doing this?" Moira said, growing more frustrated.

Oliver put his hands in his pockets and sighed. "I just… didn't it feel good to help that farmer guy out? I mean, I did it so I could make up for the cash I lost, but in the end, it just felt… good. Didn't it?"

Moira hesitated, then sighed. "Yeah. I guess it did. But shouldn't we at least call Scarlet about it?"

"Good idea!" Oliver pulled his phone out and dialed the number. It rang for a bit, Oliver growing a little more impatient every time it rang, then went to voicemail.

"Huh. She's not there. But I'm still going."

"Oh, thank you so much!" The woman said, relieved, making Moira jump, as she actually forgot she was still there. "But don't worry about the fossil. I can live without it. I got plenty. I just want Missy back… *sniff*"

"Don't worry, we'll get her back. Which way did he go again?"

The woman pointed down the road to a cave, which was almost perfectly round and clearly manmade. "The old Underground Highway."

Oliver nodded. He'd heard about the Underground Highway. A few years back the Rokkraw City Council tried to construct an underground tunnel to go under the foothills that Route 4 rested on, but though the tunnel was completed, the underground wild Pokémon didn't particularly like it, so it wasn't really used that much. Trainers who didn't mind risk still often went down there to train.

They walked down the road, Oliver stepping into the cave first. "All right, if I'm not back in 10 minutes, something's gone wrong and you should call the police."

The woman nodded. "Okay. Good luck in there!"

Moira followed behind Oliver. "I'm still not sure I want to do this, but I'm not going to let you go in alone."

"Thanks, Moira."

And the two entered the cave.

* * *

"Ugh, stupid phone…" Scarlet muttered as she put her phone in her pocket. She hadn't gotten the chance to charge it when they were at the farmer's house so it was dead. She was going to call the two to let them know they needed to check into a hotel room for the night.

_Oh well… they're only up on Route 4. I can find them easily. I mean, they're smart enough to know how dangerous it is to go into the Underground Highway so they wouldn't have wandered in._

She and Cassandra walked through town. At this hour everyone was at work so the streets were sparse. It felt deserted almost.

Cassandra looked around their surroundings as Scarlet walked forward nonchalantly. Scarlet noticed how her Pokémon was acting after a bit of walking, though, and turned to check on her. They were almost at the city edge of town where Route 4 began, the industrial section of town bordering the rocky hills, a power plant being the last building before the city stopped.

"What's wrong, Cassie?" Scarlet asked, concerned.

Suddenly Cassandra's eyes widened and she rammed headfirst into Scarlet, shoving her to the side just as a focused stream of purple gunk struck the spot they had been standing moments before. The gunk must have been somewhat acidic, as it began to eat away at the pavement of the road.

Scarlet sat up, dazed, seeing the point of impact. Frantically, Scarlet looked around for who or what had attacked them. She noticed Cassandra was glaring up at the wall surrounding the power plant, and looked up to see two figured. One was a Pokémon. It was a Mastox, she recognized. It was likely the one that had just used Gunk Shot, and the other figure must have been its trainer.

"Oh well, it was worth a shot," the man said before jumping down from the wall, Mastox following suit. The man was wearing what looked like a purple-colored doctor's frock with black rubber gloves and boots. Over his chest was a large, light blue letter V, with two yellow lines passing horizontally through the V like an equal sign.

"Wh-why did you attack us?" Scarlet managed, incredibly frustrated that her phone had died now of all times.

"I'm with Team Vortex," the man said. "You and your Absol witnessed something you should not have, and we're here to guarantee your silence. Mastox, take out the Absol by any means necessary."

Mastox lifted one of its syringe-like claws, aiming it at Cassandra, as it began to fill with a purple liquid.

Scarlet's eyes widened, realizing what was happening. She quickly took out her Pokéball and withdrew Cassandra, who she didn't notice was getting into a battle stance. She bolted back to town, barely avoiding another focused stream of poison, this time hitting the wall of the power plant.

She turned left into the power plant, which just happened to have the gate open at the time for maintenance. _I might be able to lose him in here! _She saw a transformer and hid behind it just as the Team Vortex grunt entered the plant himself, Mastox in tow.

"Gonna do this the hard way, huh...?" the grunt asked no one in particular. "Mastox, use Poison Gas," he ordered, putting on what looked like a surgical mask.

Mastox raised its syringe-like claw yet again, a purple mist pouring forth. Scarlet's eyes widened and she held her breath, holding her nose as the purple mist enveloped the area around her.

"Now," the grunt said, "It's only a matter of time."

* * *

The Underground Highway's entrance was perfectly manmade, but the same could not be said once they had gone in for a couple minutes. On the right side of the tunnel, it was broken open to reveal a natural cave formation. Evidently the tunnel's construction had collided with this cave, and this was where the wild Pokémon had come from.

A small group of Roggenrola watched Oliver and Moira walk past, Oliver looking back at them. There sure were a lot of wild Pokémon in there- _Holy crap was that a Sableye?!- _Oliver shook the thought out of his head. As much as he'd love to add Sableye to his team, he promised he'd get that Pokémon back.

He took out Hoodlet's Pokéball and let her loose. The small Fairy-type looked up at him curiously as Oliver beckoned her to follow them.

Up ahead, they began to hear a voice.

"Why did we need the fossils, anyway?" a woman asked.

A man's voice responded. "I'm not sure. But the boss insisted we revive a prehistoric Pokémon at the lab for the next test."

"Another one? After the Tirtouga experiment's failure? You saw the way it spazzed out when we made it use Thunderbolt," the woman said. Oliver's eyes narrowed at the notion of forcing a Pokémon use moves it wasn't meant to.

"I know. And I don't see why we need prehistoric Pokémon in particular. Hardly anyone uses them around here. Surely there are more reliable ways to test Breakthrough's effectiveness."

_Breakthrough…?_ Oliver wondered as the three of them crept closer. The two were dressed in the same light purple coat and black gloves. The three were facing away from them, thankfully.

Oliver crouched behind a rock, Moira following suit. He peered around and looked at the man's belt, which had a few Pokéballs on it. They were all the normal red kind, except for one which was a pink ball with hearts on it.

_That's our target_. "Hoodlet," he whispered, "Go out there and snatch that pink ball, and do it without being noticed. Got it?"

Hoodlet nodded, prepping its trusty picnic basket as it softly hopped to another rock closer to them. She hid behind it, peering around it to make sure they were still talking.

_Come on, _Oliver mentally pleaded. _You can do this!_

Hoodlet looked back and saw Oliver's nervous expression. She turned back to face the two adults, and then darted out.

Oliver and Moira both held their breath as Hoodlet hopped towards the two at top speed, silently praying that this would work.

Quickly, she snatched the pink ball and stuffed it in the basket before rushing back to Oliver's hiding place. Neither of the adults noticed.

Hoodlet stopped next to Oliver, proudly holding out the pink ball. Oliver reached down and pet her soft, fluffy, massive ears. "Great work, girl!" Oliver whispered. "Now let's get out of here."

The two trainers turned and ran, deciding not to withdraw Hoodlet yet, as the sound of the Pokéball would give them away. They bolted at top speed, not even checking to see if the two had seen them yet. They just needed to get out of the cave as fast as possible.

_All right, there's the exit!_ Oliver thought. _Just a bit further, and we'll be home free!_

They passed by the entrance to the natural cave, and Moira happened to turn her head to the left as they ran by.

Oliver didn't notice that wild Sableye from earlier jump out of the darkness, right towards him.

"Oliver, look out!" Moira shouted, before realizing her mistake and slamming her hands over her mouth. _Oh no… what have I done?!_

Luckily, Oliver managed to avoid the Sableye's attack, causing Hoodlet to immediately hit back with a Disarming Voice attack in her trainer's defense, knocking the Sableye back.

"What was that?" The woman from behind them asked.

"Sounded like- Hey, where's the hostage?"

_Ah sh**e._

"Guess we've got no choice but to fight…" Oliver thought with dread as the two adults, whose outfits had a stylized letter V on them, ran towards them. The man's was gold-colored instead of blue though.

"I can't believe we were spotted by a couple of kids!" The woman said angrily, cracking her knuckles. With the tunnel exit providing some light, Oliver got a better look at the two.

The woman had dark green, long hair tied in a ponytail. The man was tall, broad-shouldered, had short brown hair that was spiked and ruffled in places, and had a chin covered in stubble.

"Hmph. You were close. Almost got away with our hostage. I don't know how much of our conversation you heard, but as an executive of Team Vortex, I can't let this humiliation slide."

"You tell 'em, Cole!" The woman said, surprisingly cheery.

"Can you dial back the cheering? Please?" The man, evidently named Cole, said to his associate, turning towards her with an annoyed expression. "I'm trying to look professional."

"I know, I'm sorry," the woman said sheepishly. Cole rubbed his forehead in frustration, then turned to face the two kids. The Sableye had decided to book it, so Hoodlet was now standing protectively in front of Oliver. Moira had taken the opportunity to bring her Sobble out.

Smirking, Cole pulled a Pokéball off his belt. "You two will rue the day you ever heard the name Team Vortex."

* * *

_**Sorry this took so long! I've been really busy since the new semester started. To make up for it, here's an extra length chapter... that is actually half a chapter.**_

_**I can't guarantee the same rate of 2 uploads a week, but I'll definitely have at least one a week.**_

_**I will also say it was fun to write in Amber's perspective for once.**_


	13. Enter Team Vortex, Part 2

The Team Vortex Grunt strode casually through the fogged-up power plant, his surgical mask filtering out the toxins. His Mastox was beside him, the Poison-type's round eyes emotionless.

"You know, this poison gas isn't fatal to Pokémon," he said, his voice distorted by the mask, "but have you seen what it does to humans? It ain't pretty."

Scarlet was beginning to get light-headed as she tried to sneak between the various pieces of outdoor electrical equipment. She hoped she'd be able to sneak around the grunt and out the front entrance, but while the gas may have obstructed his view, it also clouded her own.

She counted herself incredibly lucky that the grunt had seen fit to walk into the gas after her instead of waiting by the front gate. Now she might have a shot at getting away.

"Mmmph…" Scarlet whined as she felt around her, hoping she didn't accidentally grab something that would electrocute her. She finally felt the concrete wall that surrounded the power plant and walked along it, trying to walk quietly, yet quickly so she could get out of this toxic gas so she could breathe. One hand felt along the wall, the other hand was covering her mouth and nose.

_ Note to self: Hiding will not work with this guy, _she lamented as her lungs were burning, crying out for a breath of air.

Finally she stepped out of the deadly fog. She realized she was just to the left of the main gate. She looked around her, and, not seeing the Team Vortex grunt, figured he must be somewhere in the fog himself looking for her.

She took a deep breath, the spots in her vision dissipating as she once again booked it down the road, panting heavily.

_ All right, I think I managed to get away- _

The shot of poison that grazed her thought otherwise. Scarlet's left arm immediately began to burn, and she immediately dropped to the ground. As she landed, the Pokeball containing Cassandra fell out of her pocket and rolled away. She looked up at the grunt and his Mastox, who were slowly approaching her.

"You tried. That's all that matters," the Vortex grunt said menacingly. "Mastox? Finish her."

The Mastox advanced towards her, readying its syringe claws once again.

Scarlet shut her eyes and braced herself for the blinding pain that was no doubt about to erupt in just a moment.

"CROAGUNK, USE BULLDOZE!"

Scarlet's eyes widened as all of a sudden, a Pokemon landed in front of her, between her and the Mastox. It was bipedal and amphibian in nature, and it had black markings around its body, which was a light brown color with its dry scales creating brown cracklike patterns around it.

* * *

CROAGUNK (Allanzan Form)

Dry-Skin Pokemon

Ground/Fighting

Croagunk has adapted its body to conserve water in times of drought. Though its body is not as venomous as its Sinnoh counterpart, it retains an immunity to most poisons. Its natural camouflage allows it to conceal itself in the desert, where it ambushes its prey.

* * *

Croagunk punched the ground with staggering force, causing the ground to shake and become unstable, the seismic forces causing Mastox to get flung back, along with the grunt.

Scarlet opened her eyes, then turned towards the voice of the trainer who had sent out Croagunk, and was met with a hand holding her Pokéball that had rolled away.

Looking up past the arm, her eyes widened as she realized who it was.

"Scarlet, right? I believe this is yours," Spencer said.

* * *

"Go, Nuzleaf!" Cole shouted as he threw his Pokéball out.

"Go, Krokorok!" The grunt shouted as she did the same.

Oliver glanced at Moira. "You have Sobble take Krokorok, I'll handle Nuzleaf."

"Right."

"Hoodlet, use Pluck!"

Hoodlet leapt in the air and began to take aim at Nuzleaf.

"Nuzleaf, use Sucker Punch!"

Now Dark-type attacks were not very strong against Fairy, but it did its job of throwing off Hoodlet's trajectory and launching her over into the nearby cavern, plowing into a group of observing Roggenrola like a bowling ball. Nuzleaf, grinning that Hoodlet was out of commission, turned its attention to Sobble.

Meanwhile, Moira pointed her finger at Krokorok. "Sobble, use Water Pulse!"

Sobble charged up a burst of water and let it loose, but the Team Vortex Grunt wasn't perturbed. "Use Dig!" Krokorok dove under the ground just as the water passed over it. The cavern wasn't pitch black, but it's position in the ground, where it might've been given away by cracks and dirt and whatnot, was masked by the darkness.

"Where'd ye go?" Moira shouted, frustrated, squinting her eyes.

"Heads up, Moira! Nuzleaf coming your way!" Oliver shouted before he heard a sound coming from his Hoodlet. Krokorok had emerged from the ground and struck Hoodlet directly.

"Use Disarming Voice!" Oliver said quickly, but the moment the sound left Hoodlet's mouth, Krokorok plunged back into the shadowed ground.

Moira turned to face Nuzleaf, now aware they'd switched opponents. "Sobble, use Tearful Look!" Sobble looked Nuzleaf in the eye and teared up, causing Nuzleaf to hesitate.

"Don't fall for it! Use Razor Leaf!" Nuzleaf shook off the hesitation, then formed two green, curved blades and threw them like boomerangs at Sobble.

"Quickly! Use Swift!"

Sobble held its little hands out, forming those familiar star-shaped projectiles in its hands, illuminating the caves in a soft white glow.

As it turns out, that glow illuminated the cave just enough that Oliver got a glimpse of a small mound that seemed to be moving.

He grinned. _ Bingo. _"Hoodlet, use Disarming Voice right there!"

This time, she was uninterrupted. Hoodlet have a small shout that pulsed with pinkish energy, the yell impacting the ground with tangible force and knocking Krokorok out of its hiding place, leaving a hole where it used to be.

Sobble threw the stars at Nuzleaf, who threw its own Razor Leaves at the Water-type. The stars and leaves collided, the stars intercepting each blade that, on their own, could severely injure the little Pokémon.

Satisfied that his friend was doing okay, Oliver turned back to face his own Pokémon. "One more time, Hoodlet! Disarming Voice!"

By this time, the grunt saw what was going on. "Krokorok, use… uh… Crunch!" She cried, evidently not having a plan to deal with a Fairy-type.

It rushed forward but as it made contact with Hoodlet's second burst of supercharged sound, plummeted to the ground and slid to a stop.

Cole turned to his associate. "Dang it, Sally! How many times do I have to tell you to keep your eye on your Pokémon at all times?! You can't just Dig and forget!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, you don't have to keep yelling at me!" the grunt, evidently named Sally said, defensively, holding her arms up.

"This happens every. Single. Time with you! Do you see the boss just letting her Pokémon just do whatever in a battle? This is why you haven't made Admin!"

"But wait, shouldn't you be keeping an eye on your own Nuzleaf?"

Cole's eyes widened as he turned his eyes back to his own Pokémon, just in time to see Hoodlet crash into it using Pluck, striking the Grass-type dead-on and knocking it into the wall of the tunnel, knocking it out cold.

Sally smirked. "Uh, hello Kettle? This is Pot calling to tell you you're black."

"Oh shut up."

* * *

As the Vortex grunt took out a second Pokéball, Spencer helped Scarlet to her feet. "Are you all right? You know, aside from the arm."

"I'm fine," Scarlet said. "Let's just hurry up and get out of here."

He turned to face the grunt. "We won't be able to outrun that Mastox's range. We'll have to fight. And it looks like he's only got the two Pokémon there. You got that Absol, don't you?" He asked, turning back to the redhead.

Scarlet flinched. "She's not a fighter. I promised myself I'd never get her into a real Pokémon battle ever again."

Spencer gestured to the grunt, who was in the process of sending out a Palpitoad. "In case you haven't noticed, he's trying to kill you! I'd say you can make an exception."

The pain in her arm flared up. Scarlet bit her lip and nodded. With her good arm, she took Cassandra's Pokéball and threw it out.

The Dark-type emerged next to Croagunk. She blinked, then looked back at Cassandra with a surprised expression.

"Yeah, I know, I know. It won't be a regular thing, just… use Night Slash on Palpitoad."

Cassandra turned back to face the Water-type and dashed forward, her horn glowing with an eerie blackness that seemed to dampen the light around it.

"Palpitoad, Muddy Water! Mastox, his Absol with Gunk Shot!"

Palpitoad made an eerie croak as the ground beneath it seemed to erupt into a wall of brown, murky water that plunged towards Croagunk and Absol, who was charging towards it.

"Croagunk, use Feint Attack on Mastox!"

Croagunk seemed to disappear as it flash stepped around Mastox, safely out of reach of Palpitoad's wave of water, and prepared to strike.

"Wait, Mastox! Behind you! Use Poison Jab!"

Mastox halted its charging up Gunk Shot and swing around, trying to hit Croagunk with its syringe claw, but Croagunk slammed its fist into Mastox's beak first.

Cassandra leapt forward through the muddy wave, taking the watery assault head-on despite the dirtiness if it, getting some mud in her eyes as a result. Still, Palpitoad wasn't the most mobile of Pokémon so when Cassandra spun around, its horn sliced directly into Palpitoad who hadn't had time to move from its previous location.

Palpitoad staggered back, nursing its wound while Cassandra shook the muddy water out of her fur, blinking the mud out of her eyes.

"Hit her back with Echoed Voice! Mastox, use Peck!"

Mastox lunged its beak towards Croagunk, piercing its dry brown skin, the attack landing especially hard at such a close range. Croagunk croaked in pain, then glared at Mastox and instinctively hit back with Revenge, even though the Fighting-type move wouldn't do much good against its Poison-type adversary.

Palpitoad, meanwhile, held its ground and vibrated rapidly, the sound waves almost visible as they tore up the ground on their path to Cassandra.

"Cassie, dodge it and use Psycho Cut!"

Cassandra, whose horn was now glowing soft magenta, leapt out of the sound wave's path as it plowed into a nearby tree, splintering it. The Dark-type rushed towards her target at rapid speed. Palpitoad let loose another burst of sound, which Cassandra leapt into the air and arced herself down so her glowing horn struck Palpitoad again. Palpitoad struggled to stand, hoping to unleash another Echoed Voice, before collapsing.

"Come on, Croagunk, you can break out of it! Keep hitting it!"

Scarlet and Cassandra turned to Croagunk, which was being pinned to the ground by Mastox's beak, thrashing about trying to escape. Scarlet glared. "Scarlet, use Psycho Cut one more time!"

Cassandra became a blur of black, white, and magenta as it charged towards the Poison-type. The grunt took notice of this and his eyes narrowed. "Mastox, use Gunk Shot."

Still holding Croagunk in place, Mastox took aim with its left clawed wing.

Scarlet's eyes widened. "Dodge it!"

But the stream of liquid poison was just too fast and Cassandra was sniped, collapsing to the ground. She struggled to stand, but it was clear the poison was weakening her as she wobbled around, her balance starting to go.

Croagunk took advantage of Mastox's brief distraction to punch the ground and cause a small shockwave. Mastox also lost its balance as Bulldoze took effect, letting him go trying to steady itself.

Then Croagunk brought down its other fist.

At full power and close range, the tremor launched Mastox high into the air, before it crashed down to the ground 5 seconds later, knocked out cold.

The grunt began to take a hesitant step back, as Scarlet withdrew her injured Absol and Spencer took a threatening step forward. The grunt withdrew his two downed Pokémon and immediately booked it, but Spencer caught up to him quickly and tackled him to the ground.

"Scarlet, call the police!" He yelled, trying to restrain the criminal.

"But my phone's dead!"

"Here's mine," he shouted, tossing his own phone to her, which she caught.

"Oh wow, you still use a flip phone?! This thing's ancient!"

"Save the snark for later!"

"R-right," Scarlet said sheepishly, beginning to dial 911.

* * *

"All right, I guess I haven't been taking you as seriously as I should have," Cole said as he withdrew his fallen Nuzleaf. Oliver took the time to withdraw Hoodlet. "The kid gloves are coming off now." He threw a Pokéball towards Sally. "That was your only Pokémon, right? Here, you can borrow this."

Sally gaped. "Oh, uh… th-thank you! I won't disappoint you this time, sir!"

"You'd better not," Cole muttered. "Go, Golbat!"

"Go, Haunter!" Sally shouted as she threw her borrowed Pokémon out.

"Joltik, you're up!" Oliver said as he threw a Pokéball out (he thought it best to withdraw the Backpack Brigade when they entered the cave) and threw it, Joltik standing next to Sobble once he came out.

"I'll handle the ghost, you take the bat," Moira said. "Sobble, use Water Pulse!"

Oliver nodded as Sobble let loose another burst of water, and pointed to Golbat. "Use Electroweb!" he shouted. Joltik leapt into action and began sparking with electricity.

_ Okay, Joltik may be weaker, but he's got a type advantage. Electric beats Flying, and as a Bug-type he should be able to take any Poison moves- _

"Golbat, use Flamethrower!"

Oliver blanched. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"

A red glow began to form in Golbat's gaping maw, the bat's eyes beginning to water as its expression turned into one of pain. A jet of fire let loose from Golbat's mouth, billowing right towards the tiny Bug-type.

"H-hurry, dodge it!" Thankfully Joltik's small size and high speed let it jump out of the way and launch its electrified webbing, though it came out a bit half-baked. Still, it did electrify Golbat, though the flames quickly burned the silk away. Golbat's eyes glared down at Joltik.

Sobble, meanwhile, was firing Water Pulse after Water Pulse, but Haunter just would not get hit, disappearing and reappearing every time a shot seemed like it would hit.

_ Swift never misses, but it's a Normal-type move! It won't do anything to him! _ Still, she kept up the assault. "Keep him busy, Sobble!"

Sobble nodded and began to alternate between Water Gun and Water Pulse, keeping Haunter on the defensive. If she couldn't take it down then the best thing would be to at least keep it dodging.

_ If I can hold out, Oliver might be able to take care of Golbat first, then he can back me up. I sure hope Sobble can last, though... _

Oliver didn't miss the amount of pain Golbat seemed to be in. The bat's throat was slightly charred, the fangs blackened. Oliver glared and pointed a finger at Cole.

"You're the ones who have been helping all those trainers cheat, aren't you? The dishonesty was bad enough, but you're hurting these Pokémon by forcing them to do things they weren't built to do! You make me sick!"

Cole merely chuckled. "They're gonna get hurt in battles anyway. What's one more injury?"

Oliver grunted in response. _You heartless..._

"If you're all soft on your Pokémon all the time, you'll never get anywhere as a trainer. Golbat! Light 'em up!"

Golbat took a breath and another jet of fire erupted from its mouth, faster this time. _ I guess that last one got him warmed up, _Oliver thought, grimacing. This time Joltik didn't quite make it out of the way and got slightly singed by the flames right before he got clear. He fell to the ground, down but not out.

"One more time! Finish him off! Use Flamethrower!"

Wincing in pain yet again, Golbat began to take a breath, stoking the fires yet again.

Sobble looked over at what was happening on Oliver's end and his eyes widened, forgetting about Haunter and dashing over to help Joltik.

"Wait, Sobble! What the f*** are ye doing?!"

Sally grinned. "Now's your chance! Use Shadow Ball!" Haunter gave a sinister grin of his own and began to form a sphere of purplish, spectral energy between its disembodied hands.

Just as Golbat let loose its third Flamethrower, Sobble ran between them and fired off the biggest Water Pulse it could muster. It made a huge, steamy splash as it exploded against the burning flames.

A cloud of steam erupted from the impact, blinding everyone in the area. Haunter, its vision obstructed at the last second, fired Shadow Ball blindly into the steam.

A few seconds passed but nothing seemed to happen. It was silent.

Suddenly, a bright, blinding flash of blue light erupted from where Sobble had been standing. The pulsing light grew brighter and brighter before fading away, its source still obscured.

Suddenly, a jet of high pressure water shot out of the steamy smokescreen, directly in Haunter's direction. Before the ghost could react, the blinding fast jet of water struck Haunter dead-on.

The ghost was flung against the tunnel wall, slamming into it before it could make itself intangible.

The steam began to disperse, and everyone finally saw what had transpired.

Where Sobble once stood, a newly-evolved Drizzile stood, taller, angrier, and stronger.

Moira began grinning wildly. Turning towards Oliver, the two nodded at each other.

"Joltik, use Electroweb again!"

"Once it's tied up, use Water Gun!"

"Not of I can help it," Cole said. "Flamethrower! Again!"

"Hey Cole, you know Golbat, like, has other moves, right?" Sally said as she nudged Haunter to get it back on its metaphorical feet.

This time, the backlash from Flamethrower started to take its toll. Golbat let out a pitiful, low pitched screech as the fire slowly began to heat up again.

Joltik was quick on the draw this time, a web of electrified spider silk wrapping around Golbat's wings and shocking it. As it fell to the ground, its wings restrained, Drizzile let loose its new and improved Water Gun, which hit Golbat with enough force to send it crashing into the tunnel wall, finally knocking it out.

Cole stared at the two angrily. "That's enough! Haunter, show them what for!" Silence. "...Haunter?" He looked around "...Sally?"

Footsteps echoed through the tunnel as Sally ran the other direction, having withdrawn Haunter, and booking it as fast as possible, shouting "Nope! Nope nope nope!" as she disappeared into the tunnel.

Cole could only stare in sheer exasperation as his underling ran away. Turning back to Oliver, he glared. "I'll remember this," he spat as he turned to follow his comrade, but not before recalling his downed Golbat.

Oliver and Moira withdrew their active Pokémon and sat down on the floor of the tunnel, exhausted.

"That was close…" Oliver said between gasps.

"You're telling me…" Moira said, equally short on breath.

Oliver reached into his pocket and pulled out Hoodlet's ball, calling her out.

"Hey Hoodlet, you still got that Pokéball you stole?" Hoodlet reached into her basket and pulled out the pink Pokéball. "Atta girl!" Oliver said, patting her furry little head as he praised her.

"...did she have that basket AND the Pokéball… while she was inside the Pokéball?" Moira asked hesitantly.

"Oh yeah. People put stuff other than Pokémon in Pokéballs all the time."

"That ball still had a Pokémon in it though. Can you even have a Pokémon within a Pokéball within a Pokémon within a-"

"Honestly, it's best not to think about it," Oliver said as he withdrew Hoodlet. Moira was about to reply when she was cut off by another voice.

"That was an impressive fight. You handled yourselves well for a couple of rookies." It was a woman's voice. She sounded mature, and impressed but not entirely blown away.

The two trainers turned. The voice came from the cavern where those wild Pokémon had been. The figure stepped out of the shadows and continued speaking.

"I was just in those caves training. Trying to keep my team sharp, you know? I heard the fight and I saw the tail end of it, but you took them down before I could get involved."

The figure was out of the total darkness and Oliver got a good look at her. He gasped, his eyes widening, his face going pale. He recognized the purple hair, the tall figure, the black beanie and the one-of-a-kind custom-made black hoodie.

"You- y-you- you're-"

"_ Raleigh, _" Moira said in awe.

Raleigh, the former Pokémon League champion herself, was standing right there, her hands in her hoodie's pockets.

Oliver looked like he was about to start swooning. "Raleigh, I, oh my gosh, I…"

"Don't mind my friend here," Moira said. "He's just a wee bit startstruck is all."

"Don't worry," Raleigh said nonchalantly, her voice neutral. "He's far from the worst fan I've had."

"R-Raleigh," Oliver managed, finally able to properly talk. "It's an honor to meet you," he said, stars in his eyes. "I've looked up to you ever since I was a little kid! Oh my gosh," he took the Pokéballs containing Ralts and Joltik and sent them out.

"Guys, you'll never believe who it is! It's the champion!" The two small Pokémon looked up and gasped, recognizing her as well.

Raleigh crouched down to their level. "Well hello, little ones! You're just as excited to see me as your trainer is, aren't you?" she said sweetly, her voice almost an entire octave higher than it was when she was talking to the two trainers. She reached out and ruffled Ralts's hair, prompting a grin from the Psychic-type. "Well, I'm not really the champion, I don't really do that anymore. But still! You two both look like you're getting real strong."

Moira raised an eyebrow. _ It's like she's a whole different person when she's talking to Pokémon. _

She turned back to the two trainers, her composure instantly returning, her face resuming its neutral expression. "Like I said, their performance impressed me. _ Your _performance impressed me."

Oliver's eyes widened, the stars returning to them as he smiled broadly.

"But make no mistake," she added, "You didn't win that battle. Your Pokémon did. You would do well to remember that." She smiled again, though it was much more subtle than when she was talking to Ralts and Joltik. "I look forward to seeing what they can do." With that, she walked past them into the tunnel, towards Route 5 and Arryline City.

Moira watched her leave as Oliver began trembling with excitement.

"Raleigh said we impressed her… _ The champion said we impressed her…! _"

Moira snapped her fingers a few times to get Oliver to return to reality. "Sorry tae interrupt yer fanboying, but we need tae return that Pokéball tae that woman and get our own Pokémon healed."

Oliver blinked. "R-right. Sorry. I just… I just got so excited." He let his Pokémon back into his backpack. "Let's be off then."

* * *

The police had handcuffed the Team Vortex grunt and were leading him away. Scarlet was in the process of answering some questions one of the officers had for her when another officer approached Spencer.

"Excuse me, but this," he held up a small glass vial filled with a dark green liquid, "was found in his belongings. Do you know what it is?"

Spencer's eyes widened as he took the vial and examined it. "No way… I should've known."

Scarlet, who was in the midst of having the wound on her arm checked out, looked at Spencer curiously. "You know what that is?" She asked.

Spencer turned to her with concern in his expression. "I think so. I just didn't realize Team Vortex was involved…"

Scarlet was about to ask what was going on when she became aware of a man approaching. He appeared to be on the younger end of middle-aged, with a gaunt face and wearing a weathered brown trenchcoat.

"So it would appear that there is indeed a connection between this Team Vortex, and the Breakthrough serum," the man said in a distinct Kalosian accent. "Good work, Spencer. And you too, Miss Scarlet. Without your assistance, we may have not obtained this sample."

"Um… you're welcome," Scarlet said hesitantly. "Who are you again?"

"Oh, how impolite of me!" The man replied. "I am an agent of the international police. My name, it is Looker. Spencer here is a trainer assisting me in the investigation. You would like an explanation, no? Well, let us get your Pokémon healed, then I shall explain it to you."

Scarlet hesitantly nodded, walking back into town and towards the Pokémon center, along with Spencer and Looker. She wasn't sure what to make of this guy, but all the same, between the illegal moves, the back-alley deals, and the attempt on her life, she was just happy to finally have some answers.


	14. Breakthrough

"Oh, thank goodness you're back! Tell me you got Missy back!" The woman cried. She was pacing back and forth on the trail with a worried expression on her face, and she had her phone out, looking as though she was prepared to call the police.

Oliver smiled, turning his gaze to Hoodlet. "You should thank Hoodlet. She's the one who stole it back from them."

Hoodlet proudly held up the pink Pokéball. The woman, crying tears of joy, grabbed Hoodlet and wrapped her in a bear hug.

_Sure glad that isn't me, _Oliver thought as Hoodlet was crushed by her embrace. Moira was giggling next to him, a guilty expression on her face.

She finally dropped the unfortunate lagomorph, who spun around a bit, woozy, trying to keep her balance. Holding the pink Pokéball in her hands, the woman threw it and the Pokémon within emerged.

Oliver and Moira has been pretty curious what this Pokémon was that she was so worried about. So imagine their shock at the sight of a _Hydreigon _. The two trainers doubled back and collapsed onto the ground, speechless at the sight of the tall, scary, three-headed, black and blue dragon being smothered in affection by the woman. Even more so that the Hydreigon seemed to be just as affectionate towards her as she was, it's three heads nuzzling against her.

"Okay… I think we're going to head out now, miss. Glad we could help!" Oliver said uncertainly to the woman, who didn't seem to notice as they got to their feet and made their way back to the Pokémon Center.

They were a few steps away when they heard the woman shout "Wait! I have something for you!"

They looked back as the woman walked up to them, the Hydreigon- evidently named "Missy"- following behind.

"It isn't much, but if you two are trainers, you might be able to use this." She held out a disc like the one Moira had received. It was a TM, though this one was a light brown color instead of the gray one Moira got.

"Thanks, miss. We're actually fighting the Gym Leader, Ricky, tomorrow. This might come in handy!"

"No, thank YOU for helping to get Missy back!"

Oliver put the disc in his bag and turned to Moira. "See? Helping people pays off."

"Yeah. All it took was for our lives to be in danger."

"Touché."

* * *

"We'll have your Pokémon healed in just a little bit, so just sit tight."

"Thanks!" said Oliver and Moira simultaneously. As they turned to the waiting area, Oliver made a double-take as he saw three people. One was a brown-haired trainer who looked about Lennon's age, one was a taller, gaunt, lean man in a trenchcoat, and the last one was-

"Hey, it's Scarlet!"

Moira turned to face them. "Who's she talking to?"

"I dunno. But we need to tell her about what happened."

"No arguments here."

They walked towards the three, and Scarlet noticed them approach and smiled. "Oh, you two! Fancy seeing you here!"

Oliver waved. "Scarlet! Who are your friends?"

"Oh, this is Spencer. He's a trainer taking the Gym Challenge, same as you." Her eyes flickered back to Looker, unsure if she should introduce him too.

Spencer offered a handshake, and Oliver took it. He then shook Moira's hand. "Nice to meet you both," Spencer said. Oliver wasn't sure, but he could've sworn he shook Moira's hand for a bit longer than him. Not to mention he definitely kept eye contact for longer.

Before he could ponder this, or ask who the other guy was, Moira spoke up. "Hey Scarlet! What happened to your phone? We tried calling you earlier."

"Oh, sorry about that. I haven't been able to charge it for a while…"

It was then that Oliver noticed something.

"Hey, Scarlet? Where's Cassandra? Don't you always keep her out of her Pokéball?"

"Well, there was an incident. I, uh, can't really talk about it, police were involved, but she's pretty beat up. So am I," she added, showing the bandage wrapped around her arm.

"You too? Small world."

Scarlet's eyes widened. "Something happened and you tried to call me? I'm sorry," she said, a little guilty. "What was it?"

"Well, we ran into these guys calling themselves Team Vortex-"

"Pardon?" Oliver and Moira both jumped. They honestly forgot the taller guy was even there. "You fought with Team Vortex as well, you say?"

"Oh, right. Guys, this is Looker. He's with the police. And Spencer is, uh, he's basically-"

"His informant," Spencer said, his voice low. "I'm actually doing police training. When this whole fiasco started, I went undercover and entered the Gym Challenge, so I could report back to Looker about any suspicious activity. This is my first case, actually!" He said, blushing as he scratched the back of his head.

"Oh, nice to meet you two- wait, 'as well?'" Oliver realized. "You fought them too?"

Looker rubbed his chin. "Truly fascinating… Once your Pokémon have recovered, let us continue this conversation elsewhere, where there are fewer ears."

* * *

The hotel room Oliver had checked out was small, so the five people felt a little cramped. There was one king-sized bed with off-green sheets, and the walls were an off-white color. Most of the furniture was back, including the desk that Looker had set a laptop on. Ralts was chilling on the bed, Joltik curled up near a lamp, asleep.

"So, lets start from the beginning. Who are Team Vortex?" Scarlet asked, petting Absol absently.

"Team Vortex started up about a decade ago. It was a small group of rogue Pokémon breeders and doctors," Looker explained. "They began by illegally distributing Pokémon born from illicit breeding practices, often bred using rare Pokémon that were either poached or stolen from other trainers."

"Now, most of their members were arrested in a sting operation a few years back," Spencer continued. "But one of their lead scientists, a man named Erwin Shelley, escaped arrest and disappeared."

On the laptop appeared a mugshot of a man with short, unkempt red hair and thick, rectangular glasses obscuring his yellow eyes. He appeared to be in his late 20s.

"The police did attempt to track them down and arrest him, but they believed that Team Vortex had died down," Looker said as he closed down the photos.

"But this past week, the tournament officials began to notice something… strange about a few of the competitors' Pokémon. They were unnaturally strong and fast, able to use attacks that should be impossible for them. And this-" Looker set the vial of liquid on the table. "Is the reason."

"You see, at first the police believed it was Cipher acting up, but it wasn't really their style to step outside of Orre," Spencer added, "but then one trainer got careless and his Pokémon was found to have its blood contaminated when the Pokémon Center treated it."

"That is where the International Police picked up the case," Looker said. "You see, this chemical bore a striking resemblance to a substance called R, which made the rounds at Ryme City a couple years ago. I'm sure you heard about the incident."

Oliver nodded. He had only heard the broad strokes of the incident- a bunch of parade floats were filled up with a gas that was released into the crowd that rendered the humans unconscious and made the Pokémon behave erratically- but the name Ryme City rang a bell.

"But we were confused by the fact that the affected Pokémon did not display the same uncontrollable behavior as those in the R Incident. Hopefully with this new sample, we may be able to figure out exactly what it does, and perhaps even trace it back to its source."

Looker took the vial back and put it in a pocket on his trenchcoat. Oliver, meanwhile, just thought, readjusting his glasses. "So that must have been what was in those cases…"

"Pardon, but what are you referring to?" Looker asked.

"Well," Moira explained, "We've run into a few trainers using some enhanced Pokémon, and they all had these small black cases with them."

"That's right," Scarlet said, eyes widening as the realization dawned on her. "Just a couple days ago, back in Neoshine…"

* * *

"They were CHILDREN, Sally, you didn't have to turn tail and run!" Cole muttered as the door before them opened.

"I said I was sorry!" Sally said for what was probably the 50th time as Cole stomped into the white room. It was full of various bits of medical equipment, along with a shelf covered in Pokéballs, each one labeled with the name of the Pokémon within, along with any other information.

At the back of the room was a large machine, which had a small receptacle at one end and some sort of projector at the other. Operating a control panel on the side was Erwin, who was mumbling to himself as he worked.

Cole held his hand towards Sally, expectantly. Sally quickly handed the pilfered fossil over to him and backed up a tad.

"Hey, what's up, doc?" Cole greeted, snapping Erwin out of his reverie.

"Ah, Cole! Welcome back. I take it the raid was an abject failure?"

Cole sputtered. "N-no it wasn't. Look, I got the fossil right here!" He said, handing it to the doctor.

"Ah, very nice…" Erwin said as he admired the specimen. "I merely assumed the worst, as the agent we sent after the witness has been taken into custody."

Cole's eyes widened. "He didn't have any Breakthrough on him, did he?"

"Afraid so," Erwin said as he inserted the fossil into the machine.

"Oh, this is bad," Cole said, trembling and sweating. "They'll be able to track down who has it, then they can trace it back to-"

"Calm down," Erwin said. "We still have time before Operation Halberd is ready to go into effect."

Sally stepped forward and whispered into Cole's ear. "What the heck is Operation Halberd?"

"I have no idea," Cole replied.

"But we do need to nip this little setback in the bud. Where'd the Distributor get off to?"

"I'm right here."

"GAH!"

Everyone in the room- Erwin, Cole, and Sally- jumped. They hadn't even heard the man walk in. Beneath his surgical mask, the Distributor smiled.

"Ah, that never gets old. Anyway, you needed me for something?"

"Yes," Erwin said. "One of our operatives was caught by the police and now they have access to a sample of Breakthrough."

"Well, that's a pickle now, isn't it?"

"Quite."

Cole looked back and forth between the scientist and the dealer incredulously. "How are you two so calm?!"

"Because by the time they figure out how to trace it," Erwin said calmly, "I'll have perfected an untraceable version of the serum. Think of it as a 'patched' version. And the Distributor here will be in Arryline to do what he's named for. Truth be told, its tendency to stick around in the bloodstream was always a design flaw that I've only recently managed to crack."

"But they still have a sample of the old version," the Distributor chimed in. "They could still find a way to counteract it."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. In all likelihood," Erwin continued, "By the time they figure it out, it won't matter anymore. For now, we'll stick to the plan. Distributor, you'll have a stockpile of the new version by tomorrow. That's all for now. And Cole?"

"Y-yes?" Cole answered as the Distributor exited the lab.

"Go out and find more fossils. I can only get so much mileage out of this one Anorith. And please, try not to screw it up this time."

Cole nodded. "Can do." He turned to leave, then hesitated. "Why exactly did you need fossil Pokémon specifically?"

"That's none of your concern," Erwin said. "The specifics of Operation Halberd are on a strictly need-to-know basis for now. You'll have it explained to you once we're ready to proceed."

"R-right. Come on, Sally!" He said as he left the lab, the grunt following after him.

Left alone, Erwin chuckled as he prepared to revive the fossilized Anorith before him.

"If only you knew…"

* * *

"So if I understand this correctly, you believe they went after you specifically because you witnessed the deal?"

"That had to have been it. I don't know how they did, but they must have known."

Looker put a hand to his chin, thinking. "Then it is in your best interest that I place you under police protection immediately."

Scarlet nodded. "Sounds fair. As a witness, I'd like to help in the investigation if possible."

"Wh-what about us?" Moira pointed out before a Looker could respond. "We fought a couple members of Team Vortex ourselves, so they know who we are now. Won't they come after us?"

"That is a very good point, Moira," Looker said. "But I believe I have an idea. Spencer?"

"Sir?"

"I am officially assigning you as Oliver, Moira, and Scarlet's police escort."

Spencer's eyes widened. "Y-you can't be serious!" He said, less out of frustration and more out of shock.

"These trainers will, without a doubt, be targeted again during the Gym Challenge. You have a direct line to me, so I want you to send any of your findings straight to me, and call for backup when necessary.

"You held your own against a member of Team Vortex alongside someone who hasn't battled in years. So alongside two trainers who also performed well under pressure, I have faith in your abilities."

Spencer stood up straight, a look of pride on his face. "Th-thank you! I won't let you down!"

"Looks like our trio just became a quartet," Oliver said, Ralts voicing her own approval from her comfy spot on the bed.

"Aye, welcome aboard!" Moira said.

He turned to Moira, ignoring Oliver entirely. "Thanks for the warm welcome! I'm really looking forward to getting to know you better," he said, a charming smile on his face as he looked into Moira's eyes.

Oliver's eyes narrowed as he saw the way Spencer looked at her, the unfamiliar feeling of jealousy creeping in. A moment later his eyes widened.

_W-wait, since when did I start feeling like this about Moira? _

Then he remembered what happened earlier that day. How Moira had stood up to him against Amber, how she just let her have it both verbally and on the field of battle. He remembered just how mesmerized he'd been.

His expression returned to normal and he let out a small, barely audible sigh. _I knew I should've made my move when I had the chance. _

Ralts sat up, looking at him with concern. The boy watched Moira chatting it up with Spencer, probably comparing notes on their respective encounters with Team Vortex.

He simply looked down at the floor.

_Oh, who am I kidding? It's not like she'd feel the same. She's my best friend but that's as far as she'd go. _

"Oi, Oliver, you feeling okay?" Oliver jolted as he realized Moira was standing close to him, raising an eyebrow. "You don't look so good."

"O-oh yeah! It's fine. I'm fine. It's just… between the fight with Amber and the Team Vortex stuff, I'm just really exhausted and it's all kinda hitting me at once," he stammered. "I… think I'm gonna call it a day."

Moira nodded hesitantly. Spencer walked up to the two. "You sure? There's still daylight."

"No, I'm sure. Me and my team need to be well-rested for the Gym battle tomorrow."

Moira snapped her fingers. "That's right! I completely forgot! We're fighting Ricky tomorrow!"

Spencer nodded. "Well, if you're sure…" He turned towards Moira. "If you didn't have anything else planned, did you want to head out into town and do something?"

"Nah, Oliver's got the right idea. I think I'll take it easy for a bit," Moira said.

"Then that's settled," Looker said, packing up his laptop. "Spencer, I'll continue my own investigation while you make sure nothing happens to these witnesses."

"Yes sir," Spencer said.

As Looker walked out the door, Oliver perked up.

"Um, Looker, sir? I just remembered a small detail you might want to hear."

"Oh?" The man turned to face him. "What is it?"

"Me and Moira overheard those Vortex members talking, and if I understood it correctly… I think they're calling that stuff 'Breakthrough.'"

* * *

_**So this chapter's a bit heavy on the exposition but I needed to get it out of the way.**_

_**Next Chapter: Oliver faces off against Rokkraw's Gym Leader, Ricky!**_


	15. The First Gym Battle

"You cannot be serious," Moira said as she saw Oliver looking between all his Pokéballs, laid out on his bed in the hotel room. Ralts and Joltik were sitting nearby, eating some scrambled eggs. "After everything that happened the past couple of days, you're STILL only going to use 3 Pokémon for the fight?"

"Yep," Oliver said bluntly.

"You know that even in an official battle, you're still allowed to use more than your opponent, right?" Moira continued, exasperated.

"Well, here's the thing," Oliver said. "Even if I did bring in my entire team, two of them are Bug-types. And they generally don't do well with Rock-types. They'd be crushed immediately."

Moira started to respond, then paused. "I guess you got a point… but still, Joltik's fast enough to dodge pretty much anything, and Karrablast can probably power through their defenses better than Hoodlet can."

Oliver thought a bit, turning towards Joltik, who was looking at him expectantly. "That's true. You know what? Joltik might be a big help."

Joltik perked up as his trainer continued. "Besides, you were my first Pokémon. It wouldn't be fair to leave you out of my first Gym battle."

Moira smiled. "Now that that's settled, I'm gonna get my own team ready." She turned to leave, gently closing the door. Before she closed it all the way, though, she peeked back in.

"Hey, I know I'm gonna tell you this right before the fight anyway, but… good luck," she said, smiling warmly.

Oliver blushed slightly. "Y-you too."

Moira, still smiling, shut the door behind her and began walking down the hallway before Oliver's voice came from his room.

"But I'm switching Hoodlet out. I'm still only gonna use three."

"OLIVER I SWEAR TO ARCEUS-"

* * *

"Oliver Clairmont? You're up next. Make sure your team is ready," the League staff member said.

"All right," Oliver said absently, watching the current battle unfolding on the TV screen, sitting next to Moira. He would've loved to be in the audience, but he had to stay in the lobby while he waited his turn.

Scarlet and Spencer had tickets though. Despite Spencer ostensibly taking the challenge too, he had no interest in actually battling the Gym Leaders. In addition, Moira was going to be watching the battle from the seats herself, she just wanted to wish Oliver luck before his own fight.

In any event, his eyes were glued to the action unfolding on the TV screen. He couldn't help but be invested, as the trainer battling Ricky was none other than the trainer from Neoshine, Crosly.

Oliver only managed to catch the tail end of it, but he watched intently. He reached into his bag and pulled out a small notepad, then began to write.

Moira glanced over at him. "...what are you doing?"

The boy looked back over to her. "Taking notes on Crosly's team, his moves, his-"

"Crosly's?" Moira interrupted. "Why him? Why not worry about the guy you're actually gonna fight?"

Oliver leaned back, arms resting behind his head. "Well, this guy was endorsed by the champion-"

"_Former_ champion, aye," Moira reminded him.

"-which means he must have serious potential as a trainer," Oliver continued. "He's definitely going to make it to the finals, and that makes him a rival for me to have to beat. I want to figure him out before then."

Moira nodded. _I guess that makes sense._ She turned back to the screen to watch the fight herself.

* * *

"Sudowoodo, use Rock Tomb!" Ricky shouted, the Gym Leader pointing ahead through his fingerless boxing gloves. Sudowoodo obliged, sweeping its branchlike arm along the ground, causing several boulders to erupt into the air, arcing towards its target.

Crosly held his ground. "Sawbit," he commanded. "Use Rapid Spin!"

The armored crawler that Oliver's team had fought once began to roll in place at a high speed, its pointy, sturdy armor shredding the boulders that came near.

"Now use Aqua Jet!"

Sawbit, still spinning, surrounded itself with a spinning vortex of water and began to charge towards Sudowoodo.

"Hit it with Rock Throw before it gets close!" Ricky shouted. Sudowoodo began to throw rocks at Sawbit, who avoided each and every one of them, the watery trail it left behind curving and twisting and circling around the arena.

Finally Sawbit had a clear shot for Sudowoodo. Ricky grinned. "There's still one thing… Sudowoodo, stand your ground, just like we practiced!"

Sudowoodo braced itself, crossing its arms in front of it. Sawbit collided into the Rock-type, the swirling water drilling into it. A giant splash of water obscured the two Pokémon as the impact rocked the stadium.

When the water dissipated, Sudowoodo was still standing, sturdy as ever. As Ricky grinned, Sudowoodo uncrossed its arms, striking Sawbit clear across the arena.

The Water/Bug-type flew past Crosly and slammed into the wall, bouncing off of it onto the gravel-covered floor of the arena. Crosly sighed and withdrew his Pokémon, before reaching to his belt and pulling off another Pokéball.

"Go, Kinderbil!"

He threw the ball and out popped what appeared to be a circular cage made out of a tumbleweed. Inside the yellowish sphere was a small, hamster-like rodent with deep red fur lined with yellow markings, yellow eyes scowling.

* * *

KINDERBIL

Tinder Pokémon

Fire/Grass

This desert rodent is too slow to evade predators on its own, so it rolls across the desert in a tumbleweed-like structure. This is then used as kindling for Fire-type moves.

* * *

Crosly pointed at the Sudowoodo facing his new Pokémon down. "Kinderbil, use Tumble Wheel!"

The tumbleweed ball containing the rodent began to rev up before it rolled towards Sudowoodo at blinding speed. Ricky, and Sudowoodo for that matter, barely had any time to react before the ball crashed into the fake tree, causing it to collapse almost immediately. It may have toughed out Sawbit's onslaught, but Kinderbil were known for being incredibly fast and powerful, if somewhat fragile.

Sudowoodo tried to lift itself up again, but it seemed to have had the wind knocked out of it and couldn't, in the end staying on the ground, lying on its back, finally falling unconscious.

"Ricky is out of usable Pokémon!" The announcer cried excitedly. "The winner is Crosly!"

The crowd of the stadium erupted into cheers. Ricky sighed, withdrawing Sudowoodo and silently bolstering the ball back on his belt before approaching Crosly, beaming.

"You did a good job," he told Crosly, offering his hand. Crosly shook it, looking rather pleased with himself as the Gym Leader handed him his rightfully-earned Geode Badge.

* * *

Oliver took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves. One Ricky's Pokémon were fully healed, it would be Oliver's turn to fight.

He began racking his brain for strategies, and with his team set up, he believed he had one.

He'd lead with Joltik, who would lead with String Shot to slow down the opposing Pokémon. He wouldn't actually attack, though, as a pretty good chunk of Rock Pokémon were also of the Ground-type.

Once they were slowed down enough, Oliver would switch Joltik out and send out Ralts. Ralts had access to Magical Leaf, and while it wasn't the strongest Grass move around, it would hopefully deal with them while they were slowed down. Tryote was his second attacker in case Ralts wound up being incapacitated or ineffective, since as a Ground-type he would have a type advantage.

Though Oliver did need to find a way to deal with that Sudowoodo._ He must have trained Sudowoodo so he'd be able to use that last move without having it be called,_ he thought._ Which means if the opponent knew what it was they'd be able to counter it easily_.

"You ready?" Moira asked.

Jolted from his thoughts. Oliver smiled at her. "As I'll ever be."

Moira slapped him on the back, making him yelp slightly. Giggling at his startled reaction she looked him in the eyes. "Go show 'im what for," she said softly, lightly hitting him on the shoulder before turning to rejoin the others in their seats.

Oliver watched her leave, smiling fondly before he sighed. _Don't get distracted, Oliver. You need to focus._

He turned to face Ralts and Joltik, who were busy psyching themselves up. "All right guys… let's give 'em a show."

* * *

"**Ladies and gentlemen**," the voice of the announcer echoed through the arena. "**We've got another Gym battle that'll no doubt knock your socks off!**"

"**In the north corner, we've got our own Gym Leader, a rough, rugged fighter who boxes with his own Rock-type Pokémon, training both himself and his team- Ricky!**"

A wild cheer roared from the crowd as Ricky entered the ring, waving to the crowd, flexing his muscles as he did so, causing more than one woman to squeal in delight.

("Well I mean, he's not THAT cute," Moira muttered, rolling her eyes at Scarlet, who looked a little embarrassed that Moira noticed her own enthusiasm for Ricky's musculature.

"What exactly do you find attractive, Moira?" Spencer asked from the seat next to her.

"Why do you ask?" Moira asked in response, an eyebrow raised.

"Oh, no reason. I got you some snacks, by the way," he said casually, handing her a massive bucket of popcorn with a bag of candy haphazardly thrown in there.

"Oh hey, thanks!")

"**And in the south corner, our challenger, a rookie trainer from Shorevul… Oliver!**"

The crowd wasn't quite as enthusiastic as it was for Ricky, but Oliver couldn't help but feel heartened as he strode onto the field to the sound of cheering.

Even more so as he heard one voice pierce the general din of the crowd.

"YE GOT THIS, OLIVER!" Oliver suppressed a grin as Moira's voice reached his ears.

His posture gradually straightened as he walked to the center of the stadium, with Ralts in his arms and Joltik riding atop his head. He stopped in front of Ricky, who simply grinned down at him, standing a full foot taller than him, his arms crossed.

"You think you got what it takes?" he asked, flashing a toothy grin.

_Compared to a criminal organization using illegally modified Pokémon?_ "Pretty sure," Oliver said casually.

Ricky nodded. "You sound pretty sure. Let's see if you can walk the walk."

The two trainers turned and took their respective spots. Oliver set Ralts down on the ground. "All right, I'm sending Joltik in first. You stay there and wait for me to call you, all right?"

Ralts grinned and offered a thumbs-up.

Oliver turned back to face Ricky, Joltik crawling down to his right hand while he adjusted his glasses with his left.

"**The competitors have taken their places!**" The announcer shouted enthusiastically. "**LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!**"

"Go, Joltik!" Oliver swung his hand forward, effectively tossing Joltik out in lieu of a Pokéball.

"Go, Rhyhorn!" Ricky's Pokéball exploded into a bright light, the stony rhino causing the ground to shake as it landed.

"**It looks like Oliver's opening with a Pokémon with a severe type disadvantage!" **The announcer's voice once again rang out. "**Is there a method to his madness?**"

Ricky grinned. "Too easy. Rhyhorn, use Smack Down!"

"Dodge it and use String Shot!"

Joltik leapt into the air, easily dodging the small stone that Rhyhorn had just sent flying, releasing a web of silk that wrapped around Rhyhorn. The Rock/Ground-type roared as it struggled against its sticky restraint.

Oliver pumped his fist. "Perfect! Now all I need to do is-"

_SNAP!_

Rhyhorn burst from its restraint, the broken strings falling to the ground harmlessly. Rhyhorn let out another roar as it charged forward to use Horn Attack.

"Joltik! Get out of the way!"

Joltik leapt on top of Rhyhorn, then immediately jumped over it. Rhyhorn tried to turn around, but fell over and slid on the ground, upturning a ton of dirt. Oliver's eyes widened as he realized it was sliding right towards him.

"Oh geez-" he ducked out of the way just in time to avoid a collision with the massive Pokémon as is ground to a halt. It got up began to turn around slowly.

"Joltik!" Oliver shouted as he put a wide berth between himself and the Rhyhorn. "Keep using String Shot! Maybe if there's enough string built up, it won't be able to break out!"

"Not on my watch," Ricky said, cracking his knuckles. "Rhyhorn, keep up with Smack Down!"

Joltik sprung into action and began leaping around the arena, deftly dodging every stone hurled its way. The Bug-type fired a string of silk at Rhyhorn, then began dashing around it, tying it up as it went.

Rhyhorn let out another furious roar as its thrashing was having less and less effect on the string. Joltik detached himself from the web and flung itself into the air, landing in front of Oliver.

"Good work, little guy. Ralts! You're up!"

Ralts nodded, dashing out onto the field and passing Joltik as it returned to its usual perch on Oliver's head.

"**It looks like Oliver's switching out his active Pokémon! Joltik hasn't been able to do any noticeable damage, but maybe his new Pokémon can pick up the slack!**"

"Rhyhorn, you can do it, you can break out of there!" Ricky shouted to his immobilized Pokémon, who simply whined in response.

"Ralts, use Magical Leaf!"

Ralts's horn began glowing as wind began to swirl around her, glowing leaves forming around her. Rhyhorn's thrashing increased as some of the silk began to tear.

Before it could free itself though, Ralts held out her hand and the leaves all darted at the unfortunate Rhyhorn, slicing easily through its rocky exterior. The webbing was cut, but it didn't matter, as the severe type advantage meant that Rhyhorn was taken down almost instantly. It rolled over unconscious and slammed into the ground.

"**Incredible! Wrapped up by Joltik's silk, Rhyhorn was taken down in one shot by Ralts! Let's see if that trick works a second time!**"

As Ricky withdrew his downed Pokémon, Ralts went rigid.

"Huh? What's wrong, girl?"

Ralts, in reply, began to make her horn glow, lifting one of the torn bits of string over to her telekinetically. Then she pointed at it, then towards Joltik, then shook her head.

Oliver blinked, trying to process this. Then his eyes widened. "Does that mean…? Joltik," he began, letting the Bug-type crawl down onto his hand, "is she saying you've used String Shot too much and you're spent?"

Joltik hesitantly rocked forward and back- the closest thing he had to a nod, as its head was basically its entire body.

Oliver sighed. "I'm sorry… I'm gonna have to bench you for a bit." Again, Joltik nodded, returning to Oliver's haid. "Ralts, can you handle his next one?" Ralts simply smiled, mimicking Ricky's cracking of his knuckles with her own. The trainer smiled. "Knew I could count on you."

Ralts turned her attention back to Ricky just as the Gym Leader sent out his second Pokémon. "Go, Aron!" He shouted, throwing a Pokéball that released the small armored quadruped onto the field.

Oliver shuddered. Aron was part Steel-type, meaning not only would Ralts's Psychic and Fairy attacks be less effective, but Magical Leaf would also have its type advantage revoked, and Ralts would likely be taken out in one hit by any good Steel attack.

"**Looks like we've got another type disadvantage on the part of the challenger,**" the announcer said, echoing Oliver's own observation. "**Let's see how he handles this one.**"

"Look, Ralts, I have a plan. But first…" he pointed at Aron. "We need to soften it up a little."

Ricky clenched his fist. "Aron, use Iron Head!"

Aron reared its head and charged at Ralts, its head seeming to shine brighter than normal as it prepared to attack her head-on.

Oliver glared, but realized what he had to do. _This worked when I fought Scarlet for the exam,_ he thought, adjusting his glasses. _Let's see if this helps again._ "Ralts, use Charm!"

As Aron closed the gap between the two, Ralts posed sweetly, a charming smile coming to her face. Aron slowed slightly, its metal head seeming to blush, but it still struck Ralts. The little Psychic Pokémon was flung a good distance from the impact, but she got up shortly after.

_All right, at least now Ralts has some time to get this to land._ "All right Ralts, now use Hypnosis!"

Ralts's horn began to glow as rings of psychic energy began to float towards Aron.

"Use Headbutt! Shut your eyes so it doesn't put you to sleep!" Shouted Ricky. Aron began once again to charge forward, shutting its eyes to resist the hypnosis. Because the distance between the two was much smaller, it was still on the right track to hit Ralts a second time. Ralts jumped out of the way, narrowly avoiding another direct hit.

"Keep your distance, Ralts! Use Hypnosis again!"

Ralts quickly put some space between her and Aron, who halted once it realized it really should've hit her by now. It opened its eyes and turned to face Ralts.

"Wait, Aron, don't-!"

Ralts's horn was already glowing, rings of light floating lazily towards Aron, who didn't manage to look away in time. The rings put Aron into a trance as it began to wobble and lose its balance, finally shutting its eyes and falling asleep where it stood.

"Good work, Ralts, come on back!"

Ralts quickly ran back to Oliver's side as Ricky began frantically trying to wake up his sleeping Pokémon. Oliver took out a Pokéball and threw it out. "Your turn, Tryote!"

Tryote burst out of the ball and faced Aron, growling. Oliver clenched a fist. "Use Mud-Slap!"

Tryote swiped at the ground, causing a hunk of moist dirt to slam into Aron's armored head at top speed. The impact jolted it awake but its eyes were in pain and it couldn't see anything. It began to rush towards Tryote but its eyes were blinded by the mud and missed completely, Tryote lazily stepping out of the way.

As Aron crashed to the ground, Oliver grinned. "Use Sand Tomb!" he shouted. Tryote nodded, then let out a loud, echoing growl as sand and dust swirled angrily around Aron, enveloping it in a swirl of yellowish-brown that obscured everything inside it.

After a few seconds of this the sand dispersed, leaving Aron unconscious and scratched up where the tornado had used to be.

"**Incredible! Once again he's pulled off some great teamwork and taken Aron down!**"

_Two down, one to go,_ thought Oliver as Ricky withdrew his second downed Pokémon. _I've yet to lose one of my own, though Ralts is pretty banged up and probably can't take another solid hit, and Joltik's String Shot is spent, which means Electroweb probably won't work either. _"Guess it's up to you, Tryote."

Tryote looked back and nodded in understanding. He turned his attention back to Ricky as he threw out his third and final Pokéball. "Go! Sudowoodo!"

As the fake tree Pokémon emerged from the flash of light, the crowd watched in anticipation as the announcer did his thing.

"**It's time for the Gym Leader's ace in the hole, Sudowoodo! Will Oliver and his team overcome this last obstacle? Or can Ricky's best Pokémon turn this around?**"

Ricky thrust his hand out towards the arena. "Sudowoodo, use Rock Tomb!"

Sudowoodo scraped the ground with its arm and flung boulders into the air, rocketing towards Tryote. The Ground-type dodged the boulders but as they began to land around the arena, Oliver understood what he was doing.

_The rocks won't be much of an issue to a Ground-type but it's going to affect his mobility if they're all just lying around the arena like that._

He adjusted his glasses and pointed towards the rocks. "Tryote, get up on the rocks and use Bite from the air!"

Tryote leapt onto one of the rocks and began hopping from rock to rock as it got closer to Sudowoodo.

As it grew closer to Sudowoodo, Ricky smiled. Tryote has almost touched down on the rock closest to Sudowoodo when he suddenly yelled out, "Use Low Kick!"

Sudowoodo suddenly kicked the boulder, shattering it beneath Tryote's feet. Startled, Tryote fell to the ground with a thud, disoriented.

"Hit it with Slam!"

Sudowoodo raised its right arm, about to bring it down onto the dazed Tryote below it.

"Tryote! Get out of the way!" But it was too late- the impact struck Tryote directly, creating a small crater below them. The crowd was split halfway between wincing in sympathy and cheering for the Gym Leader as Tryote struggled to its feet.

Oliver was about to withdraw Tryote when Ricky was what he was doing and smirked. "Sudowoodo, use Block!" Sudowoodo opened its branches wide, causing a small wall of rocks to form around the two of them. It wasn't too tall but it gave off some sort of interference that prevented the Pokéball from withdrawing Tryote properly.

"Sorry, but your Pokémon is stuck in there with mine," Ricky said. "Just gotta deal with it."

Luckily, using Block prevented Sudowoodo from following up its attack, allowing Tryote to regain its footing.

"**It looks like Tryote's still got some fight left! But will it be enough to take down Sudowoodo?**"

Oliver readjusted his glasses, noticing Tryote seemed to be shaking in…fear? No, anticipation. Anticipation of what exactly? He didn't know. "Tryote, try to use Bite again!"

Tryote leapt up towards Sudowoodo, jaws wide open. Ricky once again smiled assuredly, something he seemed to be in the habit of doing when he had a plan. "Sudowoodo, stand your ground!"

Sudowoodo crosses its arms as Tryote leapt at it, his fangs crunching into the branches as Oliver swore under his breath.

_I know exactly what move he's using- it's Bide! If I let it let loose the power it's building up, Tryote's toast!_

Oliver blinked as he noticed Tryote seeming to shake with potential energy, as the Ground-type flipped back off of the Sudowoodo, who was building its power, fueled by the pain inflicted by Bite.

_I-s e-__v-l-in-_

Oliver blinked. _Where did that come from?!_

_He- b-co-in- a -y-t-_

_Us- G—r- C-tc-_

The noise of the crowd didn't even register as the thoughts began to pulse through his mind unbidden. Oliver knew what he was thinking, but he didn't know where it came from or why.

He hoped his instincts were on the money.

"Use Guard Catch!" _The heck am I doing?! _He thought as Tryote began to rush forward at his command, reality setting back in. _Tryote doesn't learn that move until it-_

His eyes widened as Tryote began to glow blue, becoming a blur of light as he rushed towards the defending Sudowoodo.

_...until it evolves__!_

The blue light faded as it finally made contact with Sudowoodo. The Pokémon within was revealed- Tryote was much larger and standing on two legs, the front two becoming clawed arms. His fur was a darker shade of brown, with the top of his (now longer than before) tail red in color, as was a tuft of fur around his neck that gave off the impression of a bandana. His eyes weren't as wide and curious, instead becoming hardened, wild.

* * *

LYOTE

Vindictive Pokémon

Dark/Ground

It is fast enough to catch its prey, but acts like its old clumsy self. When bird Pokemon fly close in an attempt to toy with it, they usually don't survive to learn from their mistake.

* * *

Clutching Sudowoodo tightly with his claws, Lyote pried its crossed arms off its chest and picked the Rock-type up before slamming it into the ground.

Oliver couldn't contain himself. His Pokémon evolved mid-battle! _And yet I knew it was about to happen somehow…_

"**Incredible! Tryote has evolved into Lyote and it's turned this entire fight back around in Oliver's favor!"**

Putting aside his pondering for later, Oliver focused himself again. "All right Tr- I mean, Lyote! Use Sand Tomb!"

Lyote raised its hand and slammed it into the ground, causing it to shake. Oliver blinked. "That's odd, didn't it create a dust devil before?"

Instead, when Lyote used Sand Tomb this time, the ground beneath Sudowoodo gave way, swallowing the fake tree, who began frantically clawing to escape its sandy prison.

Before it was completely covered in sand, the pit of sand erupted into a vortex of furious sand, forcing Oliver and Ricky to both cover their faces as the sand blew over them.

_Oh boy, it's gonna take forever to clean my glasses of after this…_ Oliver lamented. However, despite the sandy buildup on his glasses, he was clearly able to see the end result-

Sudowoodo collapses onto the ground, knocked out cold, as Lyote stood above it, a foot planted on his fallen opponent.

"**Sudowoodo has been taken down! The winner is Oliver!**"

The crowd went absolutely nuts as the fact Oliver actually won finally sank in. He smiled broadly as the cheers began to finally reach his brain- the loudest, of course being Moira. She was shouting something he couldn't quite understand, as she was slipping back into her thick native Galarian accent but he could feel the enthusiasm nonetheless. Tc

Regaining his composure, he walked up to Lyote, who despite the increase in size, was still a couple inches shorter than Oliver.

"Great work, boy," Oliver said as he began scratching Lyote's head behind his ears. His menacing, predatory demeanor vanished instantaneously as he melted in pleasure as Oliver's petting.

After a moment of this, Oliver withdrew Lyote back into his Pokéball before approaching Ricky, who had just recalled his Sudowoodo.

Ricky smiled again, though it wasn't the same cocky, self-assured one he'd given throughout the fight. This one was warmer, more genuine.

"Oliver, I have to say- while that wasn't the closest fight I've ever been in, it was definitely up there. Actually, you didn't lose a single Pokémon the entire time so I guess it wasn't close at all, was it?"

Oliver blinked. _Oh wow, he's right, I didn't!_ "Well, I mean, Joltik was basically spent…"

"But it wasn't actually knocked out. Oliver, you've earned this." Ricky held out his hand, and in his palm was the octagonal, black and white Geode Badge.

Oliver took in and pinned it to his jacket, standing up straight, the badge making him feel stronger, stand taller, feel lighter somehow. The two trainers shook hands as their battle officially concluded.

_One down, seven to go._

And yet in spite of his victory, he couldn't stop wondering about those strange thoughts that entered his mind, that weren't his own...

* * *

_**Sorry this chapter was late, I've just been kind of busy with class lately. Hopefully I'm not as horribly late next time.**_

_**So in addition to a couple new Pokémon we've got some original moves!**_

_**Tumble Wheel isn't that special, essentially just a Grass-type version of Flame Wheel. Guard Catch, Tryote's signature move, is more interesting. You know how Sucker Punch goes first if the opponent is going to use an attacking move? Guard Catch is the opposite- it only works on non-damaging moves, or startups for attacks that need to charge, like Fly, Solar Beam or, indeed, Bide. It even overrides Protect!**_

_**My original idea for Kinderbil was called Kinsage, which was basically a sentient burning tumbleweed. However I thought the idea was kinda basic and more like a Ghost-type, and I eventually came up with the idea of the tumbleweed being a hamster wheel.**_


	16. Penny For Your Thoughts

Oliver stepped back into the lobby, still a bit dazed. He was still trying to process the fact that he actually won. He was still holding the badge in his right hand.

"Oi, Oliver!"

He whipped around just in time to see Moira skid to a halt just before plowing into him. Scarlet, Cassandra, and Spencer followed close behind.

"That was an amazing battle!" said the Galarian lass, brimming with energy.

"You did awesome," Spencer added. "Right, Scarlet?" He turned towards her, elbowing her gently.

"I'm less impressed by the victory and more by the fact none of your Pokémon fainted." Scarlet's neutral expression curved into a slight smile. "But still, that was an impressive win."

"Oh, come on, guys…" Oliver scratched the back of his head blushing. "I didn't do THAT great…"

Moira chuckled. "Of course ye did. You know, it's funny…" she looked Oliver in the eyes, making him tense up a bit. "When you were batting him you looked so… composed. Focused. Just downright _cool. _But the second it's all over, you're… well, _you _again."

Oliver simply chuckled nervously. "I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not…"

It was then she noticed that Oliver's right fist was still clenched around the Geode Badge. Smiling, she reached for his hand, took it, and pried the badge out of his grip.

"Here, lemme help you with this…" She took a step closer. The proximity made Oliver's blushing increase, and it only got worse when Moira began to fasten the badge to the right breast of his green windbreaker.

"There ya go," Moira stepped back, then suddenly noticed how red Oliver was. "Hey, uh, is something-"

"Excuse me, Moira Taylor?" a League staff member interrupted, walking in. "You're up next, so please have your team ready."

Moira blinked. "O-oh! Right." She turned back towards Oliver with a confident smile. "You better cheer for me. I'll know if you don't!"

Oliver could only nod blankly.

* * *

"**...and in the south corner, our challenger, recently moved from Galar and, in her home region, a competitor from that legendary Gym Challenge that saw Champion Leon dethroned- Moira!"**

The applause once again rang out, Oliver making sure to clap until his hands hurt. After the applause died down, he felt kinda silly. _After all, Spencer's right next to me and he's cheering louder than me. _

Indeed, during all the clapping, Spencer let out a loud, high-pitched whistle, which easily drowned out whatever Oliver was doing.

_Eh, it doesn't matter if she hears me. _However, as he tried to get his palms to stop stinging, he couldn't help but notice something troubling.

Moira visibly flinched when the announcer mentioned that she was in that Galar Gym Challenge a couple years back.

She went back to her normal lively self once the announcer finished his spiel, but that reflexive flinching was something _he'd _do, not loud, confident Moira.

_Maybe it's just because she lost that first time? _Oliver thought. _But lots of people drop out of the Gym Challenge. Very few people make it all the way through on their first attempt. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Is it something else…? _

He tabled that thought as the fight began and Moira sent out her first Pokémon.

* * *

Moira's fight wound up being a whole lot quicker than Oliver's.

Drizzile, Water-type. Made mincemeat of the unevolved Rhyhorn with a single Water Pulse.

Tyrogue, Fighting-type. He landed three Mach Punches before Aron could even move. The Pokémon's armor didn't matter, the type advantage alone guaranteed the winner.

With almost no effort, she had cornered Ricky and Sudowoodo was all that was standing between her and victory.

"**What's this?** " The announcer asked rhetorically as Moira withdrew Tyrogue. She took out Drizzile's Pokèball and threw it out, the Water-type once again out on the field. " **It looks like Drizzile's going in for another round!**"

Moira walked up to Drizzile, knelt down to his level, and whispered. "You got this, lad. This won't go like last time at all." Drizzile nodded in understanding, then turned to face the fake tree Pokémon with an expression that can only be described as a nonchalant glare.

Moira pointed at Sudowoodo. "Use Water Pulse! Don't give 'im a chance to defend himself!"

Drizzile launched a ring of water that rushed through the air towards Sudowoodo. Ricky grimaced- There was no way Sudowoodo would be able to dodge, so he had no choice but to pull out his trump card early.

"Stand your ground, Sudowoodo!"

Sudowoodo crosses its branchlike arms again as the water crashed into it at high velocity, pushing it back.

"Don't let up, Drizzile! Keep hitting 'im!"

Pulse after pulse, Drizzile continued launching high-pressure water at Sudowoodo. The Rock Pokémon held firm, though the water was quickly wearing away at it. It maintained its focus, shutting its eyes tight, concentrating on staying standing.

Finally, exhaustion began to take hold on Drizzile and he ceased his watery assault, catching his breath as he looked up at his adversary…

...who was still standing, though just barely.

Moira's eyes widened, realizing that the resulting counterattack from Bide would wipe Drizzile out in one hit. She still had Tyrogue, but she didn't have time to switch the two of them out. She didn't want to let Ricky take Drizzile down- she'd come too far and she wanted her first Pokémon, her partner, her comrade, to be awake for this.

_Not to mention… After what happened last time, it would be wrong if he didn't get the last hit in. _

Ricky began to grin as Sudowoodo uncrossed its arms and prepared to let loose its fury, a red mist nearly visible as it prepared to repay its injuries threefold.

"**Like the sturdy rock it is, Sudowoodo's weathered the assault and its about to hit back!**"

Moira paled, her already fair skin going white as her legs felt numb.

_Come on, Moira, think! _

Time slowed down. She turned her head towards the crowd and her eyes locked on him. The first human friend she'd had in a long time, the one who stuck with her for all her eccentricities.

Oliver was on edge, his posture tense, his fist balled up, but his expression relaxed when their eyes met.

He gave a reassuring smile, then nodded. He didn't say anything, since he was up in the crowd and she wouldn't have heard him anyway, but the message was clear:

_You got this, Moira. _

The brief clarity and calm that washed over her also had the effect of clearing her mind and her eyes widened.

_I know what to do. It's risky but… it's my only shot. _

Time resumed its course as she held her hand out towards the arena. "Drizzile, use Sucker Punch!"

Sudowoodo was almost to its target, its arm reared back to strike Drizzile head-on, but all of a sudden, in a single instant, Drizzile's fist shot out and impacted Sudowoodo's midsection, faster than the human eye could see. Sudowoodo was frozen in place before it leaned back and toppled over, crashing to the ground in a heap, obscured by the cloud of dust made by the fall.

"**Incredible! Against all odds, Drizzile beat Sudowoodo to the punch! The winner is Moira!**"

Drizzile was halfway through turning back to face Moira when his trainer wrapped him in a bear hug, the two crashing to the ground.

"Ye did it, ya wee champ!" Moira cried as Drizzile basked in her affection. The cheering crowd seemed like dull background noise as Moira savored the moment, until one broke through the noise.

"You're the best, Moira!" Oliver shouted, barely audible over the rest of the noise. But it pierced through and was the only thing Moira could make out, making her feel strangely warm.

_Oh yeah, and Spencer is yelling something too I guess._

She got up, withdrew Drizzile, and made her way back to the center to get her badge.

* * *

Oliver was expecting her to be happy about her win. He _wasn't _expecting her to tackle hug him the second she was back in the lobby with them. Scarlet couldn't help but have to suppress a giggle while Spencer simply stared in confusion.

"I won! I, I actually won… thanks for cheering for me Oliver," she said.

Spencer blinked a couple times. _I was cheering for you too though... _

"Uh… you're welcome," Oliver managed, a bit uncertainly. "...not to downplay your achievement or anything, but that _was _just the first Gym Leader, it's not _that _big a deal…"

"I know, I know…" Moira backed off and kicked at the floor. "It's… it's kinda hard to explain."

"Don't listen to him," Spencer cut in. "That was an amazing win. I couldn't take my eyes off you."

"In any event," Oliver continued, "you handled that fight a lot better than I did."

"That just came down to type advantage, though. All you had was Tryote and he hadn't even evolved yet," Moira pointed out. "You made do with what you had. Though it would've gone smoother if you brought Hoodlet in…"

"I guess that's true." Oliver paused, then recalled what happened in his own match. "Actually… there's something I wanted to ask you guys about. Could we talk about it over lunch or something?"

Scarlet raised an eyebrow. "Sure… but don't you want to stop by the Pokémon center first?"

Oliver shook his head. "None of our Pokémon got knocked out. They're just exhausted is all, so I figure a good meal and a long sleep night be enough."

Scarlet raised an eyebrow. "Well, if you say so…"

"You guys go ahead," Spencer suggested. "I'm gonna watch the rest of the matches, try to see if anyone's using Breakthrough to get a leg up."

"Sounds like a plan!" Moira said.

"You're _sure _you don't want to stop by the Pokémon Center first?" Scarlet asked Oliver.

Oliver opened his mouth to answer, then paused. "Hey Ralts," he said, turning back to his backpack. "You guys feeling well enough to eat right away?"

Ralts turned to Joltik (who was resting inside the backpack instead of perching on Oliver's head or shoulder) and chattered a bit, before turning to her trainer and giving a thumbs-up.

"Sounds like it's fine by them," Oliver relayed.

"Awesome, let's go!" Moira said, heading out the door. "I get to pick the restaurant this time!"

Scarlet sighed in exasperation, then took off after her, Cassandra close behind. Oliver began to follow them before he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning back, he looked at Spencer with slight confusion.

"How do you do it?" he asked.

Oliver raised an eyebrow. "Do what exactly?"

Before Spencer could respond, Moira ran back inside. "Come on, Oliver! Let's go!" She took him by the hand and dragged him outside, leaving Spencer just standing there. He sighed.

"I'll figure it out eventually…"

* * *

"So wait, you're saying you heard a voice?" Scarlet asked as she toyed with her salad, Cassandra helping herself to some grilled Basculin nearby. The group had found some decent seating in the shade outside a cozy little restaurant not too far from the gym. The younger two were eating their own lunches (Moira wolfing hers down furiously) while the Pokémon were gathered nearby with their own Pokémon food. Joltik was nowhere to be seen, but based on the lights in the store across the street beginning to flicker, Oliver had a pretty good idea where he was.

"Yeah, it was so weird…" Oliver replied between bites of his ham sandwich. "I instinctively told him to use a move it shouldn't know until it evolved… and then it evolved. It was like-"

"You know it was going to happen?" Scarlet finished.

Oliver nodded. "I have no idea how it happened."

Scarlet put down her fork and stroked her chin in thought. "Well, I have a theory… but it's a long shot."

"Shoot."

"Okay…" Scarlet sighed. "You've has Ralts for… 9 years, was it?"

Oliver nodded.

"And you always did pretty much everything with her?"

"What about it?" Oliver asked, though he was beginning to see where she was going.

"Well… what if, through developing such a close bond with a Psychic-type Pokémon, you're beginning to develop psychic abilities of your own?"

Oliver blinked. "And because I only recently started battling seriously with her, it's only now starting to manifest?"

"Like I said, it's a long shot."

Oliver crosses his arms, deep in thought. He _had _heard about this happening before, not just with Psychic-types either. Trainers, it was understood, tended to take after the Pokémon they trained. Trainers who kept a lot of Ice-types tended to be more resistant to the cold, Water trainers were better swimmers, Rock and Fighting trainers were tough and strong…

...and trainers of types like Ghost and, indeed, Psychic sometimes experienced strange phenomena like this.

"Sounds kind of plausible," Oliver said. "Still… actual psychic powers? I dunno."

"Hrgh, rr jrst hrd rr thrght," Moira said, her mouth full of curry. She swallowed the hunk of food and started again. "Sorry. I just had a thought. Wasn't there that lass at the opening ceremony who was psychic?"

Oliver's eyes widened as he remembered. "The one with the Gallade?"

Moira nodded. "That's the one. She was…" she paused, then snapped her fingers. "Ugh, I can't f***in' remember."

_Lennoa. _

"Her name was Lennoa," Oliver said casually. Then he blinked. _Okay, I know for a fact I didn't remember her name. We talked like one time. What's going on? _

"Oh hey, I know who you're talking about!"

The trio turned to face the passerby who just spoke up. Scarlet recognized her as a League staff member, but she seemed to be off-duty, as she wasn't in uniform.

"Yeah, she beat the Gym Leader yesterday. It was late, though, so I think she went back to her hotel room afterwards. She would've taken off this morning. If she was taking the Gym Challenge she wouldn't have a reason to stick around."

Scarlet smiled. "Thank you."

"Anytime!" The staff member went on her way.

Moira turned back to Oliver. "You think she might be able to help you with... whatever's going on?"

"Couldn't hurt time try getting her advice." Oliver looked back at Ralts. "Guess that bed rest is gonna have to wait. If we want to have any chance of catching up to her we'd better get moving."

"I'm down for that," Moira said, resuming the rapid consumption of her curry.

"It's settled then. I just need to grab Spencer from the Gym and we'll be on our way," Scarlet said, sitting up. "Come on, Cassie."

Moira perked up again, smiling cheerfully with her eyes closed. "Oh hey, if we wind up camping out on the road again, I can cook for us again!"

After a brief silence, Moira opened her eyes and looked around. First at Oliver, then Scarlet, then all of the eating Pokémon. All of them (except Drizzile and Wooloo) had a look of unbridled terror on their faces. Not disgust, just terror.

Moira's expression fell as she slumped back into her chair, dejected. "Guess not…"

* * *

_**It occurred to me I might've accidentally created a minor plothole but it's not that big a deal. Scarlet said a couple chapters ago that she swore off Pokémon battling, but she had no issues battling Oliver in the exam near the beginning. However, that wasn't a real battle, that was still technically just training. So she'd have less issue with that.**_

_**Again, sorry for the updates slowing down. This chapter's a bit short, but it's more of a cooldown after the constant action of the last three.**_


	17. Shadow of a Doubt

**_"...and in the west corner we have Amber Stern!"_**

_And here we go, _Amber thought as she braved herself for what she knew was coming. _Why would Arryline's Gym be any different?_

**_"The one and only daughter of famed Pokémon trainer Gregory Stern!"_**

_Blah blah blah,_ Amber mentally groaned as the crowd began muttering.

**_"Gregory very nearly became the champion before his prized Froslass was crippled in a freak accident where opposing Houndoom's Fire Fang landed a deadly blow on her face, blinding her and landing her in a coma. A promising career cut short, a potential champion never to be. Could this be her chance to redeem her family name?"_**

It took all of Amber's self-control to not snap and yell at the announcer and tell him to shut up. She still had a match to win, after all. She needed to focus.

_I'll have to put up with this every time an official match starts, won't I..._

* * *

"I saw your match on TV!" the voice of Oliver's mother cried from the phone, at a high enough pitch and volume that Oliver had to hold the phone away from his ear lest that ear start bleeding. "I'm so proud of you, sweetie! You're shaping up to be an amazing trainer!"

"I, uh, thank you… ?" Oliver asked, a little uncomfortable talking about himself. "Really, you should be complimenting my Pokémon. I probably wouldn't have won if Lyote hadn't evolved when he did."

Truth be told, his mind had been flashing back to what Raleigh said to him after they defeated Cole.

_"__You didn't win that battle. Your Pokémon did. You would do well to remember that."_

It was something that he had been thinking about, turning it over in his head ever since his match against Ricky. He thought back to the argument with Amber when they first arrived in Rokkraw.

Amber believed that having strong Pokémon was more important than being a good trainer.

Oliver thought that being a good trainer was more important than having a strong team.

And yet he only managed to win against Ricky because his Pokémon evolved at the last possible second. And Moira has wiped the floor with both Amber and Ricky.

_"__You didn't win that battle. Your Pokémon did. You would do well to remember that."_

Oliver turned these thoughts in his mind as his mother continued gushing about how handsome he looked on TV. Stuff he'd heard a hundred times before. His mother was pretty loud when she got like this and he desperately hoped Moira couldn't hear her.

Based on her snickering that was probably wishful thinking.

However, suddenly he heard a faint beeping on his phone, coupled with vibrating.

"Oh hey, mom? I'm getting another call."

"Oh… okay! Well, I've rambled for long enough anyway. I can't wait to see you battle Amelia!"

Oliver smiled. "Love you."

"Love you too."

Oliver switched calls, smiling when he saw the caller ID. He put the phone back to his ear.

"Uncle Brandon! Did you see the fight?"

"I sure did! Brought a tear to my eye, seeing Ralts tear apart that Rhyhorn like that. You really raised her right."

Oliver smiled. "Thanks."

There was silence for a bit before Brandon spoke up. "Hey Uncle Brandon, remember when I told you about those trainers who were cheating?"

Brandon took a moment to respond. "Go on…"

"Well… we think we've found out who's behind it. They're calling themselves Team Vortex."

"What?!" Brandon suddenly asked, startling Oliver. "They're back?"

"Y-you mean you know about them? How?"

"They used to be a group of Pokémon breeders who used illegal breeding practices to create impossibly powerful Pokémon. I'm a breeder myself so I heard all about it back in the day. They'd steal Pokémon to fuel their projects, and once they finally got a strong one bred, they'd break it, turning it into an unfeeling machine that knows nothing but fighting. I thought they were gone."

"Evidently they're back, but I don't think they're breeding anymore… they're selling this drug called Breakthrough that makes Pokémon stronger and lets them use moves that shouldn't be possible. And they did steal a Pokémon but only as a hostage. They seemed more preoccupied with stealing a fossil for some reason…"

Brandon hummed to himself. During this time Spencer walked over with a stern expression. "Are you talking about Team Vortex? You can't just go around telling everyone about a police investigation."

Oliver moved the receiver away from his mouth, looking sheepish. "My uncle's a breeder, he was there when the original Team Vortex was around, I figured he oughta know."

"Even still, that's potentially sensitive information."

That was when Moira piped up. "Well it's not like he didn't tell his uncle anything that wouldn't have made it on the local news anyway. Cut him some slack!"

"R-right," he said, looking a bit sheepish. "Sorry for that outburst, Oliver."

Now it was Scarlet's turn to chime in. "Has Team Vortex done anything else lately? Is the Rokkraw incident the first time their actions went public?"

Spencer shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of. Just that attack on you and the theft of that… wait…"

Moira looked him in the eyes. "What's wrong?"

"While I was in police training I heard that there had been a string of fossil thefts. But maybe they were all Team Vortex!"

He pulled out his own phone. "I'd better tell Looker to, um, look into that. Oliver, if he already knows about Team Vortex it's probably safe to talk to him."

"You still there?" came Brandon's voice on Oliver's phone.

"Yeah, I'm here," Oliver replied.

"Look, Oliver, these people are dangerous. You got lucky and fought them off but you might not be so lucky a second time. You already got the police involved, right? If you ever run into them again, don't press your luck. Don't try and fight them. They're not just any ordinary trainers. They are _dangerous_, you understand?"

Oliver nodded quickly, then realized Brandon couldn't see him. "All right. I won't."

Brandon sighed in relief. "That's good to hear. You're on your way to Arryline, right?" he asked, changing the subject. "I'll keep an eye out for you on TV."

"Yeah," Oliver said. "And when we get to Verdance, you'll show up to watch the match in person, right?"

"You know it!"

Oliver smiled. "I'll see you soon."

"Talk atcha later!"

Oliver pocketed his phone. "Sorry 'bout that."

"It's fine," Moira said. "So off to Arryline?"

"Well, first…" Oliver looked off in the direction of that cave. The one where their fight with Cole had taken place. "I have some unfinished business."

Spencer nodded. "You guys go ahead. I'll go call Looker and ask him to look into any fossil-related thefts over the past few weeks."

"Sounds like a plan," Oliver said. "We'll meet back on Route 4 in an hour."

* * *

"Oh wow, you're Gregory Stern's kid!" A man in the Pokémon Center's waiting room said as Amber walked away from the reception desk, her Pokémon having just been healed. The triangular, baby blue and magenta Glide Badge was shining proudly next to the Geode Badge.

"Who's that, daddy?" His daughter, about 6 years old, asked. The girl was wearing a T-shirt with an image of a Pikachu using Thunderbolt on a Charizard, so she was clearly into Pokémon battles.

"Stern was kinda like Raleigh when I was a kid," he responded to his daughter.

"Oh wow! Was he the champ too?"

"Not really. One of his Pokémon got really badly hurt in his last match…"

Amber didn't bother to stay for more than that, opting to just bail. He seemed more preoccupied taking about her famous father anyway.

_Everywhere I go_, she grumbled to herself, _People always have to bring up my dad. Do they have to keep rubbing his failure in my face?!_

"Hey! Amber, right?" a familiar voice called. Amber turned and actually jumped a bit when she found herself face to face with a Gallade, before noticing Lennoa there, standing next to him. "Long time no see!"

Amber stared blankly at the blind girl. "Was that meant to be a joke?"

"The irony occurred to me _right _as I said it, yeah."

Amber chuckled despite herself. "What's up? Have you fought Amelia yet?"

"Not yet," Lennoa admitted, shrugging. "I'm scheduled for later this evening."

"Well I hear people talking about how hard she is all the time," Amber said. "Apparently she has a reputation of causing more challengers to drop out than anyone else, but I didn't have a problem."

Lennoa was about to respond when her phone vibrated a couple times. She took her phone out and handed it to Gallade, who took it with his one hand that wasn't a sword. Lennoa read the text with Gallade's eyes.

_-just watched the Rokkraw gym battles_

_-the girl with the Sobble looks just like the angry Galarian kid_

_-or is it just me?_

She took the phone back. "Hey Amber, could you do me a favor and text back? I can't really do it for obvious reasons."

"Sure, I guess," Amber said, taking the phone, reading whose name it was and blinking in confusion. "What the heck kind of name is Numptie?"

"Oh, that's just a nickname. She's my pen pal from Galar."

"What's it mean anyway?"

"It's a Galarian swear word."

"Nice."

"Anyway here's what I want you to text: didn't that meme die like a decade ago lol"

Amber typed away, only a little concerned how the all lowercase was audible in her voice. She held it up to Gallade. "This okay?"

"Yep!" Lennoa said, smiling.

Amber hit send and handed the phone back to her. "Here you go."

"Thanks! I'd have Gallade do it but he's only got one hand that isn't a sword."

"Yeah, that might be a complication."

"So, Amber… I couldn't help but notice you're in kind of a bad mood." Lennoa tilted her head. "Something happen? I mean, you beat Amelia so it can't be that…"

Amber sighed. "It's my dad."

Realization dawned on Lennoa. "Oh yeah, your dad is Gregory Stern, isn't he?"

Amber nodded. "Whenever I talk with anyone older than me they only ever know me as his daughter. The announcer in the Gym battle brought that up like three times, about how I'm 'carrying on his legacy' or something. As if he's the only reason I'm a trainer!"

The two of them had sat down on a bench near the Pokémon Center, Lennoa listening to her vent and nodding to let her know she was paying attention.

"But that's not the worst of it. They keep bringing up the accident that forced him to retire! They keep talking about it as though it's my duty to redeem the family name or whatever!"

Lennoa winced. "I'm sorry. It must be rough, constantly living in someone else's shadow. Being defined by your relationship to someone else."

Amber didn't expect this innocent, immature girl to be so insightful. _Then again, I guess she _is _psychic. _"Well at least _someone _actually wants to talk to Amber and not Gregory Stern Jr."

Lennoa laughed again. "Look, I think you're all right," she said. "Though…"

"What?" Amber said curiously.

"That other kid from your hometown, Oliver, doesn't seem to care about that."

Amber glared at nothing in particular on hearing the name. "Hmph."

"Why do you have issues with him?"

Amber sighed. "He's just so… infuriating. His team is made up of rejects no one wanted. His Ralts was abandoned at the day care for being weak, and his Joltik couldn't last 5 seconds in the wild. And yet he still thinks he can measure up to the best! You can't be the champion with some random shelter Pokémon."

Lennoa nodded, frowning. "Go on."

"And for all his talk about a good trainer being more important than a good team, he's a pushover! He never wants to push his Pokémon, never puts any pressure on them so they'll always be weak!"

The blind psychic frowned. "There's nothing wrong with treating your Pokémon with kindness."

"And he never wants to use his entire team at once because it's not 'fair' or whatever," Amber continued. "It's arrogant is what it is!"

She took a deep breath, calming herself down. "It's just… he's annoying. He's weak. He's a crybaby. And if he thinks he's champion material, he's got another thing coming."

Lennoa sighed, eyes closed. "You _really _don't like him, do you?"

Amber took a deep breath, coming down from her rant. "I don't."

"When I met Ralts I could see his training reflected in her. His Pokémon love him, you know. You don't get that by focusing on strength alone, or by being 'arrogant.'"

She opened her eyes again, smiling that same innocent smile. "Well it's been nice catching up with you. I'd better get ready for my own battle. See you in the finals!" she waved goodbye as she walked off with Gallade.

Amber watched her walk off, glowering.

_Whatever. I'll show Oliver next time we battle. Him and his stupid girlfriend. I still need to repay her for defeating me._

Thinking of Moira suddenly brought something into the forefront of her mind. The text message Lennoa had received, frustration turning to curiosity.

_Angry Galarian Kid? That's a meme, isn't it?_

Curious, she pulled out her phone, typed in a quick search, and clicked the first video that popped up. Her eyes widened as it slowly dawned on her.

_No… no way!_

* * *

The Underground Highway was quiet since the Team Vortex fight concluded. The wild Pokémon in the adjoining cave had come out of their holes, and were once again doing their thing.

Slinking through the shadows was the Sableye from earlier. The one Oliver decided not to catch, that sound up giving away their presence. It was digging around in the rock, looking for gemstones. No such luck, though. Most of the valuable gems buried in the cave were small, minuscule, and Sableye had eaten most of them already.

"Hey! Sableye!"

It whipped around to face the voice. It was Oliver, looking intense, flanked by Moira and Scarlet, with Cassandra beside them. "I'm gonna catch you for what you did earlier!"

Sableye growled and got into a defensive stance.

Oliver grabbed a Pokéball and threw it out. "Go, Hoodlet!"

The red-eared rabbit Pokémon hopped onto the ground, facing down the Ghost/Dark type. He adjusted his glasses and clenched his fists. "Hoodlet, use Disarming Voice!"

Hoodlet opened her mouth and it's small voice rang out, taking the form of a pinkish wave of energy which struck Sableye head-on. It slid back and regained its footing, before it vanished into the shadows.

Moira looked around. "Did it get away?"

Oliver shook his head. "It's using Shadow Sneak. Look alive, Hoodlet! Try to stay in the air!"

Hoodlet nodded and began hopping around, to prevent herself from being a moving target. Oliver, meanwhile, was frantically scanning the ground for any signs of movement. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack if the needle was the same color as the hay.

Just within Oliver's peripheral vision, he noticed a small glint of light, as if shining off a small shiny object. He squinted, and could just barely make out a silhouette.

"There! Use Pluck!" He pointed.

Realizing the jig was up, Sableye sprung from the shadows to attack, but Hoodlet was already in the air barreling towards it. She struck it dead-on and flipped away before Sableye could react.

"Now use Thief!"

Sableye readied a Night Slash and swung at Hoodlet, but she dodged expertly and swung around behind the Ghost/Dark-type, striking it from behind.

Moira looked on in confusion. "That Sableye is getting f***in' destroyed! Shouldn't it be puttin' up more of a fight?"

"It's hungry," Scarlet explained. "Sableye consumes rocks for sustenance. The thing is, this place isn't as mineral-rich as some other areas of Allanza so it's pretty malnourished."

Oliver turned back and nodded. "Maybe she'll have better luck if I catch her and bring her around the region, to places that _are _mineral-rich."

Scarlet did a double-take. "How can you tell that Sableye's female?"

"I dunno. Blame the psychic powers I apparently have."

With that, Oliver pulled a Pokéball from his pocket and threw it, dragging the Sableye inside and snapping shut. It shook a couple times but it locked almost immediately. Like Scarlet pointed out, Sableye was hungry and weak.

Oliver picked up the ball. "I have some all-purpose Pokémon food on me," he said. "It won't bring her up to full strength, she needs to eat some actual minerals, but it'll at least fill her up for the time being."

Scarlet nodded. "Sounds good to me. That Sableye is in good hands with you."

Moira stepped up. "I bet ye knew she was hungry when she first popped up! And ye came back here tae help her out!"

Oliver scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Actually… I just think Sableye is cool."

Moira and Scarlet stared blankly at him for a moment, then simultaneously began to laugh at how uncharacteristically petty that was. Even Cassandra joined in. Oliver blushed in embarrassment, but couldn't stifle a chuckle either.

_Yeah… I guess it is kinda funny._

* * *

_**I promise the main plot will actually get moving again soon, I swear!**_

_**I'm beginning to realize more and more that Amber is my favorite character to write, and the odd friendship between her and Lennoa wasn't something I expected to happen when I started writing.**_

_**Incidentally, if anyone's curious, Lennoa's Galarian pen pal Numptie is based on my friend's Pokémon SW/SH character, just a fun thing I decided to throw in there.**_


	18. A Bone to Pick, Part 1

"So if I am understanding this correctly," Looker said, scratching his chin in thought, "You believe that Pokémon breeders in the region might possess some knowledge about Team Vortex?"

"The old team, at least," Spencer admitted. "Though they do have the same founding members, right?"

"So far, we only have confirmation that Erwin is involved," Looker nodded. "Even he is the only element from the old team, any information about him would be much appreciated. In the meantime, stick with their group through the Gym Challenge. No doubt we'll see more of Team Vortex's activities along the way. Perhaps we'll be able to track Breakthrough to its source."

"Can do!" Spencer said. He turned to leave.

"Just a moment," Looker threw out. "Before you leave, I want to give you one of my Pokémon."

Spencer looked interested. "Really? You trust me that much?"

Looker nodded. "It's one of Allanza's native Pokémon that the local police love using, and I think you'll understand why..."

* * *

"Oh, is that a Whimsicott?" Oliver gasped, smiling broadly as the cotton Pokémon, which had been lazily floating by in the wind, suddenly noticed the small group walking the downward-sloping mountain path. The gang had regrouped and had resumed their trek, now en route to Arryline.

Scarlet flipped through her Pokédex, a surprised look on her face. "Do you have any idea how rare it is to see an evolved Whimsicott in the wild? I'd better update the habitat data…"

Oliver adjusted his glasses as Scarlet began to mutter to herself. "Guess I know what my next catch is going to be." He reached down to grab a Pokéball and threw it out. "Karrablast, I choose you!"

The blue bug-type beetle emerged and Whimsicott prepared to defend itself. Oliver smirked. "Karrablast, use Acid Spray!"

If Karrablast heard Oliver's direction, he did a good job acting like he didn't, wandering over to a bush on the side of the path. Oliver blinked, in exasperation. "Come on... work with me here..." Karrablast again did an admirable job pretending Oliver didn't exist, instead opting to go after a wild Nincada. Karrablast leapt at Nincada and subdued it with his pincers before using acid on it.

Moira looked a little disgusted. "What's he doin'?"

"I... think he's eating that Nincada?" Oliver replied.

"BUT WE JUST ATE LIKE THREE MINUTES AGO!" Moira shouted.

Oliver groaned. "Well, time for Plan B, I guess." He turned back to face Whimsicott. "Go, Jolt-" he paused halfway through saying Joltik's name when he realized Whimsicott had beaten it. Either that or the wind carried it away. Either or.

The bespectacled trainer's shoulders sagged. "Great. The rarest wild Pokémon I've run into and it got away."

"The rarest wild Pokémon ye've run into _so far_," Moira corrected. Oliver blushed and looked away in response.

He pulled out the empty Pokéball and looked back at Karrablast with a labored sigh. Karrablast had just finished devouring the Nincada and was laying down contendedly, before realizing his trainer was looking at him, at which point he began to glare. "Well, _someone's _satisfied at least." He took the Pokéball and withdrew the irritated Bug-type.

Spencer, who had remained a silent observer through this whole thing, raised an eyebrow. "This sort of thing happen often?"

Oliver nodded. "It's weird, ever since I caught him he's been really disobedient and really aggressive. I don't know what I'm doing wrong."

"Hmmm..." Spencer crossed his arms. "I think I have an idea what it might be."

"Oh?" Oliver said, interested.

"It seems to me," Spencer explained, "That you're too soft on your Pokémon. I mean, look at what happened just now. You didn't reprimand Karrablast whatsoever. You need to be stricter on them. Lay down the law, you know?"

Oliver shook his head. "I, I can't do that. Joltik and Ralts were both in a really bad place when I first got them, I can't bring myself to be too harsh with them..." he rubbed his arm unconsciously.

"Fair enough. But... will that make your team stronger? I mean, don't take this the wrong way, but, compared to Moira, your performance against Ricky was kinda pathetic."

Scarlet audibly gasped, as did Moira. Oliver flinched a bit, before getting defensive. "H-hey, I won, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did. But Moira steamrolled through his team. Can't say the same about you."

"Hey, none of my Pokémon were knocked out the entire fight..."

"And Moira's Pokémon were barely winded. You're hardly in the same league."

Moira glared. "Ye cannae just-"

"That's hardly fair," Scarlet chimed in, cutting off an impending rant. "Moira's team had a pretty sizeable type advantage. Oliver did win, after all, you shouldn't belittle him like that."

"I'm just giving him some constructive criticism!" Spencer defended.

"_Constructive criti_-" Moira stammered, a baffled look on her face. "Ye just called him pathetic tae his face!"

Spencer recoiled a bit at her tone. "I-I didn't mean..."

They continued to argue, but it faded into the background as Oliver hung his head. _Of course Scarlet and Moira wouldn't say anything about my performance. They're friends. Spencer doesn't have any reason to sugarcoat it... _Ralts stuck her head out of his backpack and patted his shoulder, feeling the bout of self-pity radiating from her trainer, wishing she could reassure him somehow.

"Hey y'all! Am I interrupting something?" a nearby voice asked. The group all turned to face the source, a girl with short, messy black hair and brown eyes, wearing a bandana around her neck, a beige tank top tucked into black cargo pants.

"Can we help you?" Scarlet asked, glad to have an interruption.

"Yeah, are... are you trainers?"

Moira nodded. "Aye, we are. And ye are...?"

"Pamela Hammond!" she greeted. "Call me Pam. I'm taking the Gym Challenge too! C'mon, follow me, I set up camp just over there."

Before anyone had a chance to respond, Pamela jogged away, presumably to camp. Scarlet and Oliver looked at each other and shrugged, then followed, Cassandra trailing behind her trainer. Moira glanced sidelong at Spencer before catching up to them, leaving the police trainee to sigh, sag his shoulders, and follow at a leisurely pace.

* * *

"I'm cooking some stew right now," Pam said cheerfully as she practically skipped back into her camp, Scarlet and Oliver close behind. It had a large green tent set up, with a firepit a short distance away, a large pot of stew dangled above it. "Y'all can help yourself once it's done."

Oliver raised an eyebrow. "Will there be enough for all of us?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Pam said nonchalantly. "I made way more than me and my team needed, I was planning on having a bunch of leftovers and then you showed up. Funny how that all works out, ain't it?"

She sat down in a lawn chair she had set up outside her tent. "So what about you guys? What are your names?"

The gang all introduced themselves, along with the Pokémon not currently kept in Pokéballs.

"Nice to meet y'all. Now let's battle!" she shouted, jumping out of her chair.

That was whiplash if ever they felt it. The challenge was so sudden that Moira nearly fell over and Oliver _actually_ fell over.

"Oh, don't act so surprised," Pam chuckled. "You're trainers, I'm a trainer, you should've seen this challenge coming a mile away."

"Moira, you can go right on ahead," Oliver said, getting to his feet. "I'm gonna go train my team on my own for a bit. Gotta break in Sableye, after all. I'll battle you later."

Scarlet frowned as Oliver wandered off, Ralts and Joltik in tow, knowing full well what he really meant: After their fight he wasn't in the right headspace for a Pokémon battle and needed to blow off some steam. Though he probably was going to train Sableye, that was true.

"Well, ya ready?" Pam asked, tossing a Pokéball up and down.

Moira took out a Pokéball of her own and wound up. "Ye know it," she responded. The funk from the argument was lifting and her fighting spirit was already returning. "Go, Wooloo!" She threw the ball, bringing out Wooloo once again. She _baa_-ed in an attempt to be intimidating, but failed on account of how cute she was. She hadn't been able to come out during the Gym battle due to the type disadvantage and was more than ready for a piece of the action.

Pam tossed hers out onto the field. "Go, Piloswine!" The Pokéball let out a flash of light, letting loose Piloswine, the brown, furry mound with a snout and tusks that it was. "Let's start off on the right foot here- use Ice Shard!" Piloswine roared, white mist floating around it and coalescing into pointed shards of ice, which promptly launched themselves at Wooloo.

"Look alive, lass! Use Defense Curl!" Wooloo curled back into a ball, just in time for the ice to lodge itself in her thick wool coat, where it began to melt. "Now counterattack with Headbutt!" Still in ball form, Wooloo rolled towards Piloswine, picking up speed before uncurling just in front of Piloswine and ramming her skull into the Ground/Ice type, striking it head-on. To Moira's amazement, Piloswine did a remarkable job standing its ground and staying put.

"Now's your chance! Use Ancient Power!" Piloswine stomped on the reddish-brown ground, creating a cloud of dust and causing huge clumps of rock to float out of the ground surrounded by glowing purplish energy. After a moment, they hurtled towards Wooloo, homing in on her at top speed.

"Tough it out!" Moira cried as the boulders struck her, knocking her back.

_I think I got her strategy,_ Moira thought. _She's trying to keep Wooloo at a distance so she can pelt her with ranged attacks._ "Wooloo, get ready to use Double Kick!"

* * *

"You eaten your fill, Sableye?" Oliver asked as his newest team member just finished chowing down on some rocks. Judging by Sableye's contented nod (followed by a burp), he could only imagine that the rocks she just ate were much more mineral-rich than the ones from the tunnel where Oliver first caught her.

Oliver had found a decent open area with a few bushes and rocks but overall pretty flat ground

"All right, let's see what you can do. Ralts?" He turned to face Ralts and Joltik, who were both sitting on a boulder, chatting about what Pokémon usually chat about, whatever that is. Ralts turned to face her trainer, who gestured to the space in front of Sableye. "You're up." Ralts playfully saluted him and waddled over to her spot.

"All right, Sableye? I want you to use Night Slash on Ralts, but I don't want you to use your full strength. Don't want you to injure each other too badly in a training exercise." Sableye nodded, and brandished her right claw, which began to be surrounded in a dark aura.

"And then I'll have Ralts use Disarming Voice, which you'll try to dodge. Though Ralts, I want you to dial the power of Disarming Voice back a bit." Ralts nodded as well, as Sableye leapt into action.

_Hey wait a minute, _Oliver realized. _Isn't this exactly what Spencer was talking about?_

Sableye swiped at Ralts, but right as it nicked her, the slash slowed down visibly.

_If I have them hold back, how is that supposed to prepare them for the real battles? _

Ralts let loose Disarming Voice, but compared to the one Hoodlet used the day before, it looked transparent and moved slower.

_I guess Spencer had a point... _"Actually, guys? Change of plans," he said. "Ralts, come back."

Ralts shrugged and rejoined Joltik. Oliver took another Pokéball off his belt. "Let's try this instead... Karrablast, come on out!"

The irritable blue bug popped out and immediately whirled around to glare at Oliver.

"All right, Sableye? Let's pretend Karrablast is a wild Pokémon for this exercise, because Arceus knows he won't listen to me." _Once Sableye lands a hit, Karrablast is gonna fight back in self-defense. I don't see what else can happen. _"Sableye, use Slash! And don't hold back this time," he shouted, backing up a safe distance from the bug and closer to Sableye, not wanting to get acid in his face again.

Sableye lurched forward with her claw brandished and swiped at Karrablast, who didn't even realize the attack was coming until the last second and only barely leapt out of the way. In response, Karrablast bit back with Bug Bite, landing a solid hit on Sableye.

"Shake him off and use Shadow Sneak!"

She disappeared into the ground, leaving a solid black shadow on the ground, which quickly lurched behind Karrablast and popped out, hitting the bug dead-on.

_Note to self,_ Oliver thought. _Shadow Sneak isn't very sneaky in broad daylight. _If Karrablast had faster reflexes or more time to react he could very easily have countered.

Because they were up close, Karrablast let loose Acid Spray. Sableye wasn't too affected, being Ghost-type and all, but still had to wipe the acid out of her crystal eyes. By then she only had a second to react before Karrablast let loose an X-Scissor, striking Sableye off-guard and sending her to the ground.

"All right, Karrablast, that's enough," Oliver said.

Karrablast didn't listen, opting to go in for another Bug Bite. Sableye yelped in pain.

"I said that's enough!" he repeated, louder, but Karrablast wasn't listening. As the bug readied another Acid Spray, the corrosive material building up in his mouth, Oliver decided enough was enough and whipped out the Pokéball, withdrawing Karrablast, who clawed at the ground to stop being pulled in. "Guess who isn't getting stew tonight?" he threw out as Karrablast was finally pulled into the ball.

Immediately Oliver was overcome with a wave of guilt. He knew he had to discipline Karrablast, but proverbially sending him to bed without supper was a bit harsh, wasn't it? He remembered how malnourished Sableye was when he caught her. He remembered how desperate Tryote was to catch a bird when they first met. He had half a mind to bring Karrablast back out and apologize but no way was Karrablast going to sit still for that. _I guess he did eat that Nincada earlier,_ he told himself. Suddenly remembering why he had ended the exercise in the first place, he dashed over to Sableye, who was woozy and disoriented, covered in scratches.

"Oh my gosh, I- I'm so sorry," Oliver said shakily. "Y-You okay? Hold on a sec," he said, bringing out another Pokéball and bringing out Hoodlet. The long-eared Fairy-type looked up at him curiously.

"Sableye's injured," he told her, nodding towards the injured Pokémon. "Can you find some berries for her?"

Hoodlet took one look at Sableye, got the message, and bounded off.

Oliver sighed, patting Sableye to try and comfort her. _What is with that Karrablast? Is... is it me? Am I that weak a trainer that I can't keep my own Pok__é__mon from mauling each other?_

* * *

"Spencer?" Scarlet asked, turning to him as the two sat and observed the battle- which didn't seem to be advancing much on account of Piloswine taking Double Kicks like a champ.

"Shoot," he replied.

"I think we oughta talk about... you know, earlier," she said, her voice getting lower.

Spencer sighed, clearly hoping this would blow over. "...sure. Fine."

"Look, you and I have totally different philosophies regarding Pokémon training, but let's ignore that for now. Did you have to insult Oliver like that?"

Spencer looked defensive. "I didn't mean to insult him, I just didn't want to sugarcoat it is all," he said. "I mean, Moira's fight did go a lot smoother."

"Be that as it may," Scarlet continued, "and disregarding the fact that came down to type advantages, if you wanted to be that blunt, did you have to do it in front of everyone else?"

"Well... I..." Spencer looked away.

Scarlet raised an eyebrow. "Well? Aren't you going to answer my-" she blinked. "It's Moira, isn't it."

Spencer flinched. _Bingo._ "Were... were you trying to make Oliver look bad in front of Moira?" she accused.

"Wh-where did you get that idea?" Spencer stammered.

"Look, I'm not an idiot," she pressed. "I know you like her. And you saw Oliver as a rival, didn't you?"

Spencer sighed in defeat. He had to admit, she was right on the money. He saw the way Moira interacted with the boy. The two were close, even if Moira didn't realize it. And if Oliver wasn't going to make a move, if he was just gonna stand there, stuttering and blushing like an idiot, then in his humble opinion, he had it coming.

Not that he'd say that out loud of course. He'd just learned his lesson on that front.

"You want my advice?" Scarlet suggested. "If you want to impress her, you can start by not insulting her best friend to his face."

Spencer recoiled a bit and had the decency to look guilty. "I... I should probably apologize to him, huh..."

Scarlet nodded. "That would be wise," she said, her tone much less harsh than before.

Just then, a loud _SMASH_ echoed across the camp.

It had taken at least three tries- that Piloswine was a living brick- but at last, Wooloo's most recent Double Kick struck Piloswine dead-on and the bulky Ice-type succumbed to its pain and exhaustion and fainted. Pam withdrew it, Moira deciding to give her own Pokémon a break and recall her as well. _That may not have done much damage to her, but Wooloo's right exhausted trying to take it down!_ Moira brought out her Nidoran. "All right, lass, is your next Pokémon just ginnae stand there and take hits like Piloswine did?" she taunted, not letting on how tough it actually was to take it down.

Pam grinned. "You wish," she taunted. "Go, Cranidos!" She tossed out her second Pokéball and out popped Cranidos, the blue and gray, dinosaur-like Rock-type.

Scarlet's eyes widened. She opened up her Pokédex and flipped through it. Spencer raised an eyebrow. "You realized it too," he said.

She nodded. "That's a fossil Pokémon," she confirmed as Cranidos headbutted Nidoran, who responded by attempting to poison it with his horn.

"And _someone_ out there is after fossils. They're not gonna pass up the chance to get one that's already been revived."

"Isn't it going to be dangerous to have that out in the open? Shouldn't we stop the battle?"

"Actually, I think we can use this to our advantage." He reached down to his belt and pulled out a Pokéball. Seeing Scarlet's curious reaction, he explained. "I got this Pokémon from Looker. They use it a lot for undercover police work, and I think we can set a trap for Team Vortex."

"Using Pamela as bait?!" Scarlet asked incredulously, her shock underscored by the ground shaking as Cranidos smashed into the ground, just barely missing Nidoran.

"Trust me on this," he said, confidently. "If this works, we can capture some of their members and get closer to dismantling their operation."

"And if it doesn't work, Pamela loses a rare Pokémon and possibly gets hurt."

"I wouldn't worry about that," he replied nonchalantly. "Moira and Oliver held their own against one of their Admins, didn't they?"

Scarlet sighed. "Can we at least tell Pamela about your plan?"

"Don't see why not," Spencer agreed as Cranidos once again smashed into Nidoran head-on, knocking him out cold.

* * *

"A sting operation, eh?" Pam asked. "Sure, I'll help!"

The sun had long since set and the gang had set up their tents next to Pam's. The Pokémon on her team ate their respective servings of stew quietly. Of course there was the tired Cranidos and the recovering Piloswine, but she also had a Wimpod as well as two more fossil Pokémon- an Aerodactyl and a Cradily. There was no way Team Vortex was going to ignore this treasure trove of fossil Pokémon.

"Thank you for cooperating," Spencer said. He had already revealed that he was working with the police, so it's not like she could really refuse, but she seemed like she'd be willing to go along with it regardless. The rest of the gang ate in peace, with everyone's teams each having their share of stew (except Karrablast, obviously). Before broaching the subject of the plan, he tried to make conversation with Moira, who merely glared at him in response.

"How's the trap gonna work anyway?" Oliver asked, gulping down a mouthful of stew.

Spencer smiled. "Allow me to introduce you to the newest member of my team." He gestured down towards the ground. Next to his Croagunk, eating a big piece of potato was... a coin? On closer inspection, the regular, average-looking coin had eight tiny little spider legs coming out from underneath it.

* * *

ARACHOIN

Loose Change Pokémon

Bug/Steel

When it finds a coin, it carries it on its back and uses it as a shield. No one truly knows what their real body looks like. Attempts to take away its coin usually result in injury. Its small size and coin disguise make it popular with the police.

* * *

"These guys are the Allanzan Police's secret weapon," he said. "These guys can disguise themselves as the coin itself and hide that way, but they can also tell the difference between real money and counterfeit coins. They're super useful."

"So if I'm getting this right," Scarlet said, "Arachoin is going to hide in plain sight?"

Spencer nodded. "Once the Team Vortex guys show up, it'll return to my tent and wake me up. Then I'll call for backup and wake you guys up."

"You really think it'll work?" Pamela asked.

"Of course it will!" _And not only will we be one step closer to taking down Team Vortex, but I can also show Looker his faith in me isn't misplaced. Maybe I can even get Moira to stop being mad at me._

"So, uh, Oliver," Moira asked, turning to face Oliver. "How'd the training go?"

Oliver sighed. "Pretty poorly. Karrablast went off the handle again, and Sableye got hurt pretty badly."

Moira looked at the Pokémon in question sympathetically. The scratches had mostly healed, thankfully, but you could still see them.

"I don't know what his deal is, but I'm no closer to getting him to listen to me."

"I'm sorry tae hear that," Moira said sadly.

"I tried taking Spencer's advice... I'm going to try working my team harder, be stricter with them. Though so far the jury's still out on whether that's actually working."

Moira flashed a sidelong glance at Spencer before facing Oliver again, having had a realization. "Is that why ye didn't bring Karrablast out for dinner?"

Oliver nodded. "I mean, he ate that Nincada on the way here, so he'll be fine."

A few moments passed with hardly a word, the crackling of the fire loud as bullets in the silence. Finally Spencer stood up. "Hey, uh, Oliver, can I talk to you for a second?"

Oliver looked up at him and nodded. "Sure, in private?"

"Yeah." The two got up and walked away from the camp, the girls eyeing them curiously.

Scarlet turned to face Moira, who was glaring at Spencer. "Moira, I don't think you need to worry." Moira looked somewhat skeptical but decided to just return to her meal.

Once the two were a reasonable distance away, Spencer looked Oliver in the eye. "I'm sorry for humiliating you earlier," he said.

"O-oh, no, you don't need to apologize," he stammered in response, waving his arms. "You're totally right about me being too-"

"I don't mean that," Spencer clarified. "I mean bringing it up in front of everyone else and putting you down like that."

Oliver nodded in comprehension. "Oh yeah, that... Look, it's no big deal, really. I've heard far worse, trust me. All's forgiven"

Spencer smiled a little. "That was easier than I thought it'd be. You're a nice guy, you know that?"

"I know, though I have been told it's hindering my career as a trainer."

Spencer chuckled. There wasn't any self-doubt in that sentence. Oliver was just cracking a joke. He held out his hand. "So we're good?"

Oliver took his hand and shook it. "Yeah. Yeah, we're good."

"Glad to hear it. Now then," Spencer continued, smirking, "Let's get ready to show Team Vortex what for."

* * *

_**I am so, SO sorry about the delay! I had a bunch of unforeseen things I had to do, some of which involved the virus, THEN I got distracted by the new Animal Crossing game, and THEN my saved document got deleted by accident.**_

_**Anyway, I was sincerely not expecting this one to be a two-parter but it be that way sometimes. Also, I think I finally know what to do with Spencer. Hopefully. He's still my least favorite character and I still wish I never came up with him in the first place, but it's too late to back out now.**_

_**Arachoin, and its eventual evolutions, are based on the recurring Mimic enemy you see in a lot of RPGs.**_


	19. A Bone to Pick, Part 2

Spencer awoke to the feeling of cold metal on his cheek. His eyes slowly opened and through the darkness he barely made out the gleam of Arachoin as it crawled back off his head. After groggily coming to his senses, he suddenly realized the reason he had Arachoin out and why it had woken him up.

"You wake up the others," he whispered as he threw open the sleeping bag and put on a jacket, grabbing Croagunk's Pokéball and hurrying outside within seconds. He smiled to himself, having gone over the signal to fight with Oliver just before they went to bed.

In the moonlight he saw two figures, presuming them to be Vortex Grunts sneaking through the camp, their silhouettes barely visible thanks to the stray embers of the campfire. They were sneaking their way towards Pam's tent, whispering to one another.

"I don't get it," one of them, a female, complained in a hushed tone. "Why do we have to sneak around? Can't we just take it by force?"

"Nah, that won't work," the other, a male, replied. "The trainers who took down Cole haven't reached Arryline yet. They might be in the area."

"Big whoop, Cole's team is barely admin-level. I think he only made admin in the first place because he did Erwin's taxes one time."

"We're a criminal organization! Why are we paying taxes in the first place?"

*CRACK*

A flash of light erupted through the camp as a bolt of electricity struck the inert campfire, setting it ablaze.

"What in the-" the black-haired female grunt began, shielding her eyes.

"GO, CROAGUNK!"

"GO, NIDORAN!"

The dry-skinned amphibian and the purple prickly Poison Pokémon leapt out and glared at the two grunts, Nidoran bristling and Croagunk making a fighting stance. Out from the shadows walked Moira, her hair unkempt, and Spencer stepped out into the open as well, facing the disoriented and freaked out grunts.

"Great work Joltik!" Oliver shouted from the sidelines as Joltik, who had just set used Electro Ball on the fire pit. The tiny spider leaped away from the fire and crouched in a defensive stance just in front of Oliver.

"It- it's them! Let's book it!" The male redheaded grunt shouted, preparing to run before the female grabbed his arm.

"No way, we can take them," the female objected, confidently. "I've been hoping to put my Pokémon through its paces now that it's got Breakthrough." She pulled a Pokéball from her belt and threw it. "Go, Gigalith!"

The Pokéball erupted in a flash of light, the dark, multi-legged mountain towering above the grunts' opponents.

Oliver gritted his teeth. "Careful, Moira. If that thing is hopped up on Breakthrough, who knows what it can do!"

"Way ahead o' ye," Moira nodded.

The male grunt sighed, reluctantly grabbing one of his own Pokémon. "As if I have a choice…" he said, defeatedly. "Go, Tallocat!"

He threw the ball and out from it emerged a dark brownish-green, bushy-furred catlike Pokémon. Its long, messy fur had light green stripes running throughout. Its whiskers were long, with velvety, cylindrical heads on them. Its tail, which also had that head, was much thinner and less fuzzy than the rest of it.

* * *

TALLOCAT

Reed Pokémon

Grass/Water

It was commonly domesticated, but its popularity has largely waned. Wild Tallocat are largely inactive as a result, instead using their reedlike tails to camouflage themselves in marshland and catch smaller Pokémon unawares. Despite being rather slow, its reflexes are surprisingly sharp.

* * *

Oliver looked over the field, at the Pokémon that were present, and formulated a plan.

"Moira. Croagunk is the only one here with a type advantage against Gigalith, but both of Tallocat's types can tear apart a Ground-type. But it's weak to both Bug and Poison. Let's focus on that and let Spencer deal with the big guy."

"Sounds good."

And with that, a flurry of commands were all issued at once.

"Croagunk, use Low Kick!"

"Gigalith, use Protect!"

"Joltik, use Bug Bite on Tallocat!"

"Tallocat, use Razor Leaf!"

"Nidoran! Take the leaves yerself and use Poison Sting!'

And all at once the assembled ensemble of Pokémon launched into action.

Croagunk slid towards Gigalith and swung its foot into Gigalith's foot, which glowed blue and didn't budge. Tallocat's whiskers, on their own accord, swung around and flicked back into place, launching a pair of razor-sharp curved leaves directly at the amphibian.

Nidoran leapt in between them and the leaves, and while those leaves did cut Nidoran, they were shredded to bits on Nidoran's pointy body. Joltik leapt over him and dive-bombed Tallocat, biting down on the feline. Feline's thick fur repelled Joltik's tiny fangs, more distracted than anything else. Meanwhile, Nidoran had gotten its bearings and fired a purple spike. The cat, however, sensed the spike approach and rolled out of the way, throwing Joltik off its back and dodging the Poison Sting.

Oliver glared. Tallocat was a fairly durable Pokémon and Joltik wouldn't be able to put much of a dent in it, even with the type advantage. He was hoping Nidoran would be able to poison it and make it a matter of waiting it out, but that didn't seem to work.

The female grunt smiled, seeing that Joltik had landed near Gigalith and Criagunk was still recovering from its failed attack.

"Gigalith, use Eruption!" As soon as the words left her mouth, Gigalith's eyes glowed red and red cracks began to appear all over it.

Oliver's eyes widened. "Joltik, get out of the way!"

But before Joltik could react, an explosion of molten rock shot from Gigalith's top, raining around the campsite. Joltik was struck head-on, knocking it out instantly. Croagunk was also hit, and though it was singed, it was still standing. Oliver grimaced, quickly withdrawing Joltik, and looked out at some nearby brush that had caught fire, thanking his lucky stars they were in an area with relatively little foliage. Suddenly he did a double take and realized that a couple of their tents had also caught fire, though again, to his relief, his own was untouched.

Pam and Scarlet emerged from their respective tents, Cassandra quickly joining the two. "I was trying to stay in the tent like you guys said but everything's on fire! What the heck happened?!" Pam panicked.

Scarlet was about to say something when Moira threw a Pokéball at Scarlet. "Here, ye can borrow Drizzile, deal with the fires, will ya?" she said quickly, not waiting for Scarlet to respond before ordering Nidoran to attempt Poison Sting again. The redhead was about to comply when Cassandra dashed forward to take on Gigalith.

"N-no! Cassandra! What are you doing! Get back-" Scarlet looked back at the growing fires, then sighed, bringing Drizzile out. "I'll deal with her later…"

Gigalith's attention was now diverted away from the injured Croagunk towards the Absol that had just entered the fray and used Night Slash, which nicked the rock slightly but didn't do much otherwise.

"Now's your chance! Go for another Low Kick!" Spencer cried, with Croagunk responding immediately, sweeping underneath it again and knocking its leg aside, sending it crashing to the ground.

Meanwhile, Nidoran took aim at Tallocat and fired off another sting, which actually hit this time, but only managed to get lodged in the thick fur.

"Use Bubblebeam!" the male grunt ordered, and Tallocat took a deep breath and blew, an array of bubbles shooting towards Nidoran , the densely-packed water bursting as it struck the Poison-Type, leaving it woozy and having a difficult time standing.

Pam was watching this and grimanced. She was told to stay in her tent earlier, as the grunts were here to steal her Fossil Pokémon, and might end up in harm's way if the grunts got desperate. But since the tent was burning (even after Drizzile put it out, it was basically unusable), that wasn't really an option, so she decided to join the fight anyway. Reaching for her belt, she pulled a Pokéball out and threw it. "Go, Spearow! Use Wing Attack on Tallocat!"

The angry, sharp-beaked bird flew into the air and dive-bombed Tallocat, slicing with its wing, knocking it back. Tallocat hit back with another Bubblebeam, with Spearow maneuvering through the air in a ribbon of feathers as it frantically dodged the watery projectiles.

Oliver pulled a Pokéball out and looked down at it. _ Karrablast _ , he thought. _ You can be really rough… but we can't afford to hold back, so you know what? I'll let you cut loose. _ "Go, Karrablast!'

The blue pincer Pokémon jumped out, immediately overwhelmed by its surroundings. However, it suddenly began to twitch, and despite Oliver shouting for it to use X-Scissor on Tallocat, it immediately turned to face the giant Gigalith, which was getting to its feet, shrugging off assaults from Cassandra's Night Slash and Psycho Cut with relative ease.

After a moment, Karrablast made a beeline for the Gigalith.

"No, wait, Karrablast, what are you-"

The bug didn't listen, flipping around into the air and slicing its pincers at the rock-type.

Oliver was just about to recall Karrablast and bring Lyote out when a loud growl pierced his ears, as Gigalith recoiled in pain from Karrablast's attack. There were clear slice marks in its rocky exterior where the pincers had slashed at it. Gigalith tried to turn to face the bug, but left itself open for a combined assault from Croagunk and Cassandra. One Brick Break and Night Slash at the damaged area, and Gigalith let loose a low growl before crumpling to the ground, unconscious.

Spencer watched in shock as the massive Rock-type fainted, and was recalled by its trainer, who was just as dumbfounded as he was if her wide eyes and pale face were any indication.

_ I don't believe it… that thing was a fully-evolved, highly-armored Rock-type… and that Karrablast broke through like it was nothing! What _ is _ that thing? _

_ Unless… _

Spencer glared as the two grunts shared a disturbed look. Tallocat, meanwhile, was thrown off-balance as the ground shook under the weight of the fallen titan, leaving itself wide open for Spearow's next attack, finally managing to land a decent hit. In addition, the wing collided with the spike Nidoran had launched earlier, driving it further in. Tallocat stumbled as the spike pierced its skin, the poison slowing its movements.

Before Pam could order another move, a blue glow erupted in the corner of her vision. She turned and found Moira staring at the same glow, which was enveloping Nidoran.

Moira gasped. "No way! Is he-"

The glow grew to a blinding light and dissipated, revealing Nidoran to have grown larger, spikier, and angrier. Nidoran had evolved into Nidorino.

Moira grinned. "Nidorino, use Horn Attack!"

Nidorino charged forward, more quickly than it did as a Nidoran and jabbed its horn into Tallocat, easily breaking through the fur coat and landing a critical blow. Tallocat stumbled around, struggled to stay standing, and collapsed. Tallocat was down for the count.

The grunts looked at each other again, even more freaked out. They were backing away slowly when all of a sudden…

"W-wait, Karrablast! What are you-"

The blue bug-type was making a beeline directly for the female Vortex grunt. Karrablast jumped towards her with its pincers prepared to strike, malice in its eyes.

Oliver went white as a sheet as the grunt's shriek filled the night. _ Oh sweet merciful Arceus! That's the attack that weakened Gigalith! If it were to hit a human... _

The grunt dove out of the way just in time to avoid being sliced to ribbons. Karrablast landed roughly, than turned back to face the quivering woman.

"Oliver! What are ye doing?! Call it back!" Moira shouted, snapping Oliver out of his shock.

"R-right!"

As soon as it had regained its footing, Karrablast leaped up to attack her once again before being overcome by red light and pulled back into its Pokéball, held by a shaking Oliver.

The two grunts turned tail and ran at top speed. However, they hadn't gotten far when blaring sirens and blue-and-red flashing lights appeared on the horizon. Two police cars drove up at alarming speed and slammed on the brakes, a few blue-uniformed officers coming out, accompanied by a Koffing, a Porygon, a Magneton, and a dark-blue male Meowstic.

Both grunts put their hands in the air as the officers got close.

"I told you so," the male turned to the other grunt, who didn't respond, as she was already being shoved into a police car.

* * *

A few minutes later, another couple police cars showed up at Spencer's request to give them a ride to Arryline, since their camping gear was destroyed. The cops were originally called by Scarlet, the plan being that once the grunts were preoccupied with fighting the others, Scarlet would discreetly call the police. The goal hadn't been to defeat the Vortex grunts; just keep them there long enough that the police could handle the rest.

So Oliver, Moira, and Scarlet were in one car while Spencer and Pam took the other. The Pokémon that were usually let out of their Pokéballs were inside, resting.

"Thank you so much for cooperating," Spencer said sincerely. "Sorry to get you wrapped up in all this."

"It's fine! It's fine," Pam said, from the seat next to him. "I'm glad you were able to stop those guys. I heard rumors that people were stealing fossils but didn't know if it was true or not. I feel safer now that they're dealt with though."

"There's a lot more of them out there, though," Spencer pointed out.

"Still, I can focus more on the Gym Challenge now that I know you guys can handle them."

They rode in silence for a few minutes as Arryline came into view, the lights of the famous Arryline Airport shining brightly among the otherwise darkened skyline.

"So… that Karrablast sure was something," Pam spoke up, breaking the silence. "That little guy did more damage to that Gigalith than any of our Pokémon combined! Where'd he find that thing?"

"Yeah…" Spencer said absently, glaring out the window at the other car. "I wonder…"

* * *

"Oliver, it- it wasn't your fault," Moira stammered, patting Oliver on the shoulder.

"But it was my Pokémon," Oliver said quietly, staring at the floor of the car and shaking. "My own Pokémon almost killed a person. I knew Karrablast was rowdy and violent, but I never thought…"

"That's right, you didn't know it would happen, so you shouldn't blame yourself," Scarlet added. "It's not like you told Karrablast to go after them."

"Yeah…" Oliver sniffed. "I guess so."

"Look, we know it was an accident, ye don't have tae worry," Moira said reassuringly.

"Thanks guys," Oliver said. "But I haven't been able to wrangle Karrablast no matter what I do. I'm beginning to wonder… is Karrablast a lost cause?"

They rode in silence for a bit, unknowingly parallel to the passengers in the other car, a soft sniffle coming from Oliver every so often.

"Hey, Oliver, I have a question," Scarlet began. "Where was Ralts? I didn't see her?"

"Neither did I," Moira said, before glaring accusingly at him. "Oliver, I swear tae Arceus, if ye benched Ralts to make the fight 'fair' or whatever-"

"It wasn't that!" Oliver said, waving his arms furiously. "I was just letting Ralts sleep. I didn't want to wake her in the middle of the night. Joltik was a light sleeper and he was already awake-"

"Okay, I believe you," Moira said, backing off, a guilty look on her face. "Sorry. I shouldn't have snapped like that, I- I really have to work on that," she added. "Sorry."

Oliver chuckled nervously. "Y-you don't have to apologize. This has been a rough night for all of us."

* * *

They weren't the only ones in the Pokémon Center that late at night. The center was open 24/7 because people did often need their services at that hour. Even still, it might as well have been empty compared to how packed a Center usually would be.

Oliver was focused on _ Crobatman and Fletchling _, with Moira reading over his shoulder, while Scarlet was quietly and gently scolding Cassandra for running off. All the other Pokémon in the battle that were injured were currently being treated.

And that included Karrablast.

Spencer paced, thinking about the night's events. _ There's no way Karrablast could be that powerful. There's only one reason I can think of, but there's no possible way it could be true, could it? _

He was snapped out of his thoughts when the intercom dinged.

_ Mr. Spencer Bradley? You are requested at the front desk. _

Spencer turned to face the group, smiling at Scarlet who had raised an eyebrow. Oliver was too engrossed in his comic book to notice what was going on. The junior detective walked up to the front desk towards the pensive-looking pink-haired nurse.

"Well? Is it Karrablast?"

She nodded, handing a folder to Spencer. "I compared it to the papers the police gave us yesterday. It-it looks like your hunch was right."

Spencer picked up the folder and leafed through it, a troubled look on his face. _ So it is true. But how is that possible? Something isn't right here, and I'm going to get to the bottom of this. _

He walked up to Oliver, waiting for a bit before clearing his throat. Oliver looked up. "Oh, Spencer! What's up?"

Spencer took a breath, trying to find the right words. "Oliver… when did you catch that Karrablast of yours?"

"A day or two before the opening ceremonies of the Gym Challenge." He tilted his head slightly. "Why? Is this about the incident?"

"It is. And you caught it in the wild?"

Oliver nodded. Spencer looked him in the eyes and didn't seem to notice any dishonesty or nervousness, just confusion.

"Scarlet, is that right?"

"Yeah. It was a huge fiasco, the thing made off with our food and fought hard before he finally nabbed it. Why? What's going on?"

Spencer sighed as Oliver and Moira both looked at him with confusion in their eyes.

"Oliver… there were traces of Breakthrough in its bloodstream."

* * *

_**So, uh... heh heh… it's been a while.**_

_**Between the launch of my YouTube channel (RV Maika), final exams, and the release of Final Fantasy VII Remake, a lot has happened. But in addition to that, I had pretty much the entire Arryline arc planned out... except for the resolution of this battle, and I kept putting off writing it for a while.**_

_**In addition to that, it's really disheartening that my years-old Undertale fic keeps getting traffic while this one gets pretty much ignored, but that's a selfish reason for not keeping up with this.**_

_**I'm really, really sorry for not updating for so long. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things.**_


	20. Brutal Honesty

Oliver could hardly breathe. Moira was saying something next to him but he couldn't hear.

_Breakthrough?! But- but how?! _

"How the f*** is that even possible?!" Moira questioned loudly, making Spencer glad the Pokémon Center was mostly empty. "Oliver'd never do that!"

"I know that. You're no cheater. But the facts don't lie," Spencer said. "It was definitely in its bloodstream."

Oliver was shaking. How had this even happened? He'd never even touched any of the stuff, and he'd never taken his eyes off Karrablast as long as he'd been out of the Pokéball, so he would've known if someone else had given it. It did explain some things, though, like how impossibly strong it was. It was able to do a number on that Gigalith despite the latter being not only incredibly sturdy, but hopped up on Breakthrough itself.

And there was something else that didn't add up. "B-but Breakthrough's supposed to make Pokémon more subservient, right? Then why was Karrablast so confrontational and rebellious?"

"I have a theory about that," Spencer replied. "It makes a Pokémon more obedient to its trainer, sure. But what happens if that Pokémon changes hands? If its trainer trades it to someone else?"

"Or releases it…" Scarlet realized as she put the pieces together.

They all turned to her. "What do you mean?" Spencer asked.

"Karrablast was always violent, but it didn't go completely crazy until it laid eyes on those Team Vortex guys. What if Karrablast used to belong to them, but they released it?"

Spencer began to reply, but the gears were turning in his head. "I'll have to check on that. Let me see if it had any previous trainers.:

"Ye can do that?" Moira asked, curiously.

"Of course. Once it's been captured and generate a faint amount of harmless radiation that lingers even if it's released. I can check the radiation signatures to see if it was caught multiple times." He turned to leave. "This'll only take a couple minutes." With that, he returned to the desk and began talking with the nurse again, who nodded and let him behind the desk into a back room.

Oliver began to stare at the floor, deep in thought. Moira scooted a bit closer to him. "Are ye all right?"

"I guess… it's just… have I been cheating this whole time and I didn't even realize it?"

"No."

They both turned to Scarlet.

"You didn't use it in any official matches. You didn't use it to fight Ricky."

"But- but I did use it in battles before, like with Crosly."

"If I remember correctly, Karrablast ignored you and got knocked out immediately," Scarlet pointed out.

"...oh yeah."

"And even if Karrablast did listen to you then," she added, "It wouldn't be your fault. How could it, when you had no way of knowing?"

"Thanks," Oliver sighed as he sat back up. He chuckled. "You know, this might sound selfish, but I'm strangely relieved."

"What do ye mean?" Moira asked, an eyebrow raised.

"It's just, ever since I first caught him, I tried and failed to get through to him. I was worried that I had failed as a trainer somehow… but I guess this means I never really stood a chance with him."

Just then, they heard a door close. They looked up to see Spencer returning. "Your hunch was spot-on," he said. "Oliver wasn't Karrablast's first trainer."

"Really?"

He nodded. "So we know you caught Karrablast after it was released. We also know that it reacted really poorly to those Team Vortex Grunts, even moreso than usual. My theory is that Team Vortex caught it, tested Breakthrough on it, and released it after they no longer had a use for it. Karrablast would've had some resentment towards the team for whatever they did to it."

"But there's one problem with that," Moira interjected. "I thought Breakthrough was supposed to make it really loyal?"

"To its trainer, yes. But not to the entire organization. It would have undying loyalty specifically to whoever was its trainer at the time."

"That makes sense."

Scarlet turned to face Oliver again, who seemed to be in thought again.

"Something wrong?"

"Well, I've been thinking…" Oliver looked back up at Spencer. "What do I do with this information? I can't keep Karrablast on my team now that I know what I know. But I can't just release it and make another trainer deal with it."

Spence thought, rubbing his chin. After a moment of silence, he had an answer.

"I could take him."

"Really?" Scarlet asked, raising an eyebrow.

"If we're ever going to deal with the Breakthrough case, we need to know how to reverse its effects. Plus… it wouldn't hurt to have a team member strong enough to deal with any of Team Vortex's own illegal Pokémon."

"Does this mean you're leaving?" Oliver asked.

Spencer sighed. "Looks like it. I thought they might target you, but they seemed to only be interested in gathering fossils. Besides, I finally have a lead to follow. If Karrablast really was just a test subject, it stands to reason that Team Vortex would use whatever Pokémon was in the area for the sake of convenience. Therefore, their hideout would be close to an area Karrablast can be found in the wild."

"We caught it in Searrow Forest, if that helps," Scarlet pointed out.

"True. But it's not the only place. They also live around Route 22, west of Mt. Halberd. I need to go help investigate, and I'd hate to keep you from the Gym Challenge."

Oliver stood up. "So you need me to finalize his transfer to you?"

"Yeah, if it's not too much trouble."

The process only took a couple minutes as Karrablast's records were transferred. Oliver and Spencer shook hands as the trade was finalized.

"Good luck with your investigation," Oliver said.

"Good luck with your challenge," Spencer echoed back. "If Team Vortex ever decides to cause any more trouble, you might be seeing me again." He turned towards Scarlet and Cassandra. "You know, your Absol is no slouch in combat. You sure you don't want to get back into the battling scene?"

"I'm absolutely sure," the young black woman shook her head, not noticing as Cassandra seemed to pout.

"And Moira," Spencer said.

"Aye?"

"...Never mind," he said. "Good luck on your Gym Challenge. I'll be rooting for you."

"And Oliver, right?" Scarlet asked, smirking.

"Yeah, sure."

With that, Spencer pocketed the Pokéball containing Karrablast and turned away, stepping out the door, turning to wave goodbye one more time before it shut behind him.

* * *

At first glance, the Arryline Gym was pretty small, compared to other Pokémon gyms around Allanza. But that was because the building itself was more or less a facade, just a place for the administrative stuff to take place. The real stadium, the place the action actually took place, was an abandoned airstrip just behind it.

Arryline's Gym Leaders have historically been proficient with Flying-types, including its current Leader, Amelia, and because of this, they insisted on having a battleground that would complement the high-flying maneuvers their Pokémon could pull off. So the city's plans to raze the airstrip and build over it were cancelled, and it was instead decided to reserve some of the space for the open-air gym.

The gym was at the north end of town, at a higher elevation, providing a good look at the rest of town. The sky was much clearer than Neoshine, and though the skyline was lower overall and only a few buildings got above 5 stories, the designs of the buildings being much more consistent than that hodgepodge, all appearing light grey and blue.

Moira ran ahead to register for her next fight, while Scarlet groaned and ran after her. Oliver was walking slower as he took stock of his current team setup, Ralts and Joltik admiring the sights from their perch in his backpack.

_All right, so I have Ralts, Joltik, Lyote, Hoodlet, and Sableye. Lyote's a Ground-type so he's right out. Joltik's Electric-type so that'll be helpful. Hoodlet's shown to be useful in the air, so she's in. Sableye needs a dark environment to work best, and an airstrip in broad daylight wouldn't be too great for him. That just leaves Ralts as my only option for my third… _

"Oof!"

Oliver collided with something soft, falling over backwards and landing on his rear, his glasses falling off and landing nearby. He hissed in pain as he got onto his knees and began feeling around for his glasses.

"Sorry about that, I didn't see you there."

"Don't worry about it. Neither did I," the other person, a girl, said in a familiar voice, though Oliver could only see a vague blur of soft, light colors. "Gallade, could you grab his glasses please?"

Oliver's eyes widened as a white and green blur appeared and knelt down nearby, picking something up. "Lennoa? That you?"

"Oh yeah, I remember you! Oliver, right?"

Oliver put his glasses back on as he looked up. And indeed, there was the carefree smile of Lennoa, her eyes hidden under the shadow of her hat and hair. He also noticed that on her poncho were two badges, the Geode Badge along with the triangular Glide Badge, meaning she had just gotten out of a battle with the Gym Leader.

"It's been a while. How's Ralts been?"

Oliver stood up as Ralts withdrew back into the backpack, blushing up a storm at the sight of Gallade. "It's funny, actually, I was actually looking for you. When you bonded with your own Pokémon, did you have any other side effects?"

"What do you mean by that?" Lennoa asked, tilting her head.

Oliver took a breath. "During my gym battle against Ricky, I knew one of my Pokémon was going to evolve well before it happened. I instinctively had it use a move that it couldn't use until it evolved."

Lennoa's smile disappeared, her expression serious and attentive. "People who train lots of Psychic-types tend to develop some kind of psychic abilities. It's usually pretty minor. Brief flashes, like the ones you're having."

"Would it be possible for me to control them?" Oliver asked.

"Why not? Pokémon can learn new moves, so there's no reason you can't learn some tricks as well. In fact, why don't I teach you?"

"I'd like that," Oliver said. "You'd really do that?"

"I don't see why not," she replied before chuckling. "Hah. _Don't see _why not. I'll have to write that down."

"Oi, Oliver!"

The two turned to see Moira emerging from the building, though Lennoa had a strange look on her face that Oliver missed. "I already registered, ye'll have to act fast if ye want tae go today."

Oliver blushed, scratching his hair in embarrassment. "We'll talk more about this later."

"Don't worry, I'm in no rush."

With that, Oliver hurried back into the building. Moira watched in bemusement as he nearly tripped over himself in his rush, as did Lennoa, through Gallade's eyes. After a moment, the Galarian girl turned towards the blind psychic.

"So are ye going tae help him with his psychic stuff?"

Lennoa nodded. "Once he gets the time. Though I doubt I'll stick around for long."

"Why not?" Moira asked, genuinely curious.

"Because I can practically smell danger floating around you. I should know, I'm a psychic, I know these things."

"Is that right…" Moira responded. _If she's right, then we haven't seen the last of Team Vortex after all. _She shook her head. _No. Spencer is hot on their trail. They won't bother us. Besides, I barely know this lass. _

Lennoa's smile slowly changed into something more resembling a smirk. "Something else you oughta know about me. I'm good at telling how people are feeling, and I noticed something interesting about your friend with the glasses."

"And that is?" Moira asked skeptically.

"He's got a crush on you."

Lennoa couldn't help but chuckle as Moira just stood there, sputtering like a Magikarp on land. "I- bu- what?!"

"Do whatever you want with that. I just thought I'd let you know. If you'll excuse me, I need to hit the concession stand before the next battle. Gallade likes his nachos, don'tcha Gallade?"

Gallade didn't respond verbally, just looking a little embarrassed.

"See you 'round!" she said as she walked back into the building, Gallade following close behind.

_Okay, that just _proves _she's wrong _. _Oliver crushing on me? _Anyone _crushing on me for that matter? Please. We're just friends. _

She pushed the thought out of her mind as she walked back in to meet up with the rest of the group. By her own admission, she was loud, blunt, and not one to mince words. She wasn't going to act like she and Oliver weren't close friends, but that was all they were. Friends. _He has no reason to see me as anything more than that... _

_...right?_

* * *

_**This one's a bit shorter, but there's going to be plenty of action over the next couple of chapters, don't worry.**_

_**If it seems like I'm updating slowly, don't worry. My enthusiasm for this fic will probably be rekindled once the Isle of Armor expansion drops in a couple weeks. Don't worry, I never planned to abandon this fic, but I might pick up the pace once the DLC comes out.**_


	21. Sucker Punch

"**Ladies and gentlemen!" **The voice of the announcer rang across the outdoor stadium, projected across the crowd with several loud speakers as acoustics on an open airstrip weren't ideal. "**We know you're antsy with anticipation, so let's introduce our combatants!"**

"**In the east corner is the high-flying leader of Arryline Gym, Amelia!"** As the crowd cheered, Amelia walked to her spot. She had dark skin with blue eyes, her brown hair tied into pigtails. She was wearing a sky blue bomber jacket and wore flight goggles, though they were up over her forehead at the time.

"**And in the west corner, our challenger. Originally from Galar and a recent immigrant to Allanza, give it up for Moira!"**

Moira walked onto the airstrip confidently as more cheering broke out, eventually standing in front of the Gym Leader herself.

The two shook hands. "Pleasure to meet you, Moira," she said. "You might've beaten Ricky, but his team was about raw power and defense. You won't be able to simply overpower my team, however. Gym battles here are practically air shows! So, are you ready?"

"Aye," she said, smirking. "Let's give 'em a show."

_You got this, Moira, _Oliver thought from the front row of seats. Joltik was enjoying the show from his usual perch atop Oliver's head while Scarlet held Ralts in her lap, Oliver holding a big bucket of popcorn in his lap.

The two competitors walked away from each other to their spots, spun around, and pulled out one of their Pokéballs. Moira noted that Amelia only had three Pokémon on her team, much like Ricky did.

"**And… begin!"**

"Go, Wooloo!" Moira shouted, tossing her Pokéball onto the field and letting out Wooloo, the spherical sheep attempting to look intimidating, but her idea of a war cry- namely, baa-ing loudly- just came across more cute than anything else, much to her chagrin.

Amelia wound up her own throw. "Go, Diglett!"

When the Pokéball burst open, out popped a Pokémon that Moira definitely recognized as Diglett, but rather than being burrowed into the ground and sticking its head out, instead Diglett's round head was sticking out the top of a small tornado, forming a greyish-blue cone of wind that ensured that Diglett's lower body remained obscured.

* * *

DIGLETT (Allanzan Form)

Whirlwind Pokémon

Flying

Due to the shallow bedrock in most areas of the Allanza Region, Diglett was unable to thrive as it does in other regions. Instead, the Pokémon has adapted to travel around in dust devils, and as such is most common in the arid, sandy eastern part of Allanza.

* * *

The airborne Diglett hovered across from Moira's Wooloo as both trainers gave their first command.

"Diglett, use Rapid Spin!"

Moira had barely opened her mouth to give Wooloo a command when Diglett, leaving a trail of dust in its wake, blew right up to Wooloo and the sheep found herself beset by hit after hit from the spinning vortex of wind.

"Defense Curl!" Moira shouted, and Wooloo curled herself into a ball, protecting against the onslaught.

"Don't let up!" Amelia shouted. "Use Quick Attack!"

Rather than letting the winds do all the work, this time, Diglett simply slammed Wooloo head-on, sending the sheep rolling backwards from the impact. Moira dodged just in time to avoid the rolling Pokémon that went crashing into the wall. She was right under Oliver's nose, in fact.

Thankfully, this put some distance between Wooloo and Diglett, giving both of them some breathing room.

_If Wooloo keeps taking hits like that, _Moira thought, _then my plan of using Wild Charge won't work! The recoil damage will cripple her for the rest of the battle!_

"Use Aerial Ace!"

"Defense Curl again!"

The fast, unseen claw of Diglett slashed at Wooloo's wooly barrier, slicing it up a bit but managing to avoid hitting Wooloo herself.

Moira swallowed, knowing this defense wouldn't hold out forever. _If I don't try it, Wooloo might never get a chance in the first place._ Taking a deep breath, she pointed at Diglett as it made another charge at Wooloo. "Use Wild Charge!"

Wooloo let loose what she seemed to think was a brave battle cry and her wool began to flash yellow, generating sparks as she barreled towards Diglett, a trail of crackling electricity left in her wake.

"Diglett! Dodge it!"

Just in the nick of time, Diglett sprung into action and spun out of the way, sending Wooloo skidding to a halt.

"Ngh!" Moira grunted. She was hoping that Wild Charge would land, and wasn't sure if she'd get the chance again.

"All right, Diglett," Amelia said, "Use Aerial Ace!"

Diglett darted back in Wooloo's direction and made its approach again. Wooloo was still recovering from her missed attack, so she didn't respond in time when Moira told her to get out of the way. Diglett made contact again when a large jolt of electricity suddenly erupted from the wool, sending Diglett recoiling back.

"Wh-what?" Amelia said in surprise.

Back on the stands, Scarlet watched in confusion while Oliver seemed to realize what was happening.

"Oliver, what was that?" she asked.

"When Wooloo used Wild Charge, her wool got an insane buildup of static electricity," he explained. "Since the attack missed, the charge remained in her wool, and when Diglett used Aerial Ace, the electricity had somewhere to go."

Moira didn't understand why that had happened, but she wasn't complaining. Diglett was thrown off from the shock and she was taking advantage of that opening. "Wooloo, use Headbutt!"

Thanks to the close proximity of the two, Wooloo was quickly able to rear her head back and ram it into Diglett. With a crackle of electricity, combined with the satisfying sound of impact made when Wooloo's skull collided with Diglett, the poor Flying-type's tornado was sent careening backwards, with the Pokémon riding within down for the count.

Amelia withdrew her Pokémon with a grimace. Moira smiled a little.

_One down, two tae go. Looks like her team's got a bunch of really fast but really fragile Pokémon on it. It's just a matter of figuring out their tricks._

Amelia threw her second Pokémon out. "Go, Gligar!"

Moira's self-assured smile turned into a frown as the purple, winged Pokémon emerged. Gligar was part Ground-type, so Wild Charge wouldn't be very helpful. She had been banking on an overwhelming offensive with Wild Charge putting a quick end to the battle. Clearly that wouldn't work.

"Wooloo, come back," she sighed.

"Gligar, use Swords Dance!" Amelia called out, and as Moira switched Wooloo out for Drizzile, Gligar began performing a series of quick maneuvers, drawing oohs and aahs from the spectators. Now Gligar's attack power had been increased temporarily due to the adrenaline, and Moira threw Drizzile out into the open.

_Great, even though now my Pokémon is the one keeping his distance, I'm still on the defensive now…_

"Gligar! Dig!"

"Drizzile, use Water Pulse!"

Drizzile fired off a ring of water that missed its target, landing with a splash just as Gligar burrowed through the decades-old pavement into the ground below. The field went silent as Moira scanned the ground frantically for any sign of movement. Gligar was powered up with Swords Dance and Drizzile wasn't the most resilient Pokémon ever. One hit could do serious damage.

She strained her ears, hoping to hear any sound that would give away Gligar's position.

*crack* *rumble*

Moira smirked. "Water Pulse! Aim right there!" she cried, pointing directly to Drizzile's left

Drizzile quickly fired off another shot of water at the ground where Moira was pointing. The water struck the ground and made a huge splash- right as Gligar shot out of the ground directly into the pulse's path, flinging the surprised Gligar into the air, too stunned to finish its attack, falling helplessly.

"And Water Gun!"

With one finger, Drizzle pointed and launched a concentrated stream of water at Gligar as it fell out of the sky, launching it across the field right in front of Amelia.

Moira chuckled triumphantly as Amelia recalled her second downed Pokémon… wait… why was _she_ smiling?

"Good job so far," Amelia congratulated as she pulled out her third ball. "Let's see how well you deal with my ace in the hole! Go, Gliscor!"

Gligar's evolved form burst from the third Pokéball with a demented look in its eyes as it spread its wings wide. Moira stared it down, not flinching.

_Same typing, same strategy. _"Drizzile, Water Pulse again!"

As Drizzile began charging up water, Amelia thrust her hand out. "Gliscor! Thunder Fang!"

_What?_

As soon as the words left her mouth, Gliscor darted forward so lightning-fast her eyes couldn't even keep up.

_What?!_

Gliscor's fangs embedded themselves in Drizzile, and in a reversal of the first matchup, it was now Gliscor who was delivering an electric shock to Drizzile, who was screaming.

"Something you oughta know," Amelia called from across the makeshift stadium. "If you try to rely solely on type advantages, you're gonna have a bad time!"

"Shake 'em off, Drizzile!" Moira cried frantically. Drizzile tried, frantically launching Water Guns at the hostile that was still biting down on him, but it was no use. With one final, definitive crackle, the electricity took its toll and Drizzile couldn't stand anymore, collapsing to the ground.

Moira recalled her first loss of the battle, her mind racing as she pondered her next move.

_Nidorino? Nah, Ground beats Poison, Dig would make mincemeat of 'im. Wooloo will probably last the longest._

"Go! Wooloo!"

Despite Wooloo's ironclad defense, Gliscor was able to tear through it with just a couple of Aerial Aces, shearing Wooloo's natural armor and sending her to the ground as well.

_Come on, think!_ Moira's mind practically began smoking. Her strongest Pokémon and her most resilient were both down and they hadn't even made a scratch on Gliscor.

"Go, Nidorino!"

Just as she predicted, Gliscor immediately went for a Dig. Unlike Drizzile, however, Nidorino didn't have the speed or reaction time to intercept it and was struck dead-on as Gliscor once again burst from the ground. As Gliscor flew back to its starting position, Moira noticed something.

_The wing that struck Nidorino doesn't look right, like it's injured- Of course! It must have struck Nidorino's spines and now it's poisoned!_

Moira brought out her last Pokémon, Tyrogue, in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, he could hold out long enough for Gligar to be sufficiently weakened by the poison.

Unfortunately, after two uses of Protect, Tyrogue was unable to maintain the focus need to ward off Gligar's uses of Aerial Ace, and in one slash, the unevolved Fighting-type was down for the count.

"**Amelia and her Gliscor have done it again! The winner is Amelia!"**

The crowd went nuts as Gliscor took to the sky and began doing some tricky movements in the skies as celebration. However, Moira barely seemed to register what was going on around her. Her ears rang as she stood there, immobilized, her mind flashing back to… to…

As if on autopilot she withdrew the unconscious Tyrogue and sauntered off.

Oliver and Scarlet watched her with growing concern. "I know she can get emotional sometimes," Scarlet said, "but she's taking this one defeat way harder than I thought she would."

Oliver looked over at Ralts, remembering that she was an empath, and it looked like Ralts was way ahead of him. Her red horn was glowing as she stared directly at Moira. After a few seconds, Ralts looked back into Oliver's eyes (he assumed anyway, Ralts's hair obscured her eyes) and gestured her head towards her. The message was clear: _Go after her. _

Oliver quickly stood up to try and catch up to her, dropping his popcorn in the process, ignoring Scarlet's yelp of surprise. Moira looked absolutely devastated, and it looked like she needed help.

However, fighting through the crowd meant that Oliver was delayed quite a bit and there was no sign of Moira anywhere in the lobby of the Gym.

_Okay… if I'd just suffered a catastrophic defeat, where would I be?_

The answer came to him literally a second later and he felt embarrassed it took him so long to put it together.

_Of course she'll be at the Pokémon Center._

* * *

Sure enough, slouching in one of the chairs in the waiting room was Moira, looking seven different flavors of upset as she waited for her Pokémon to be healed. The bangs of her hair were drooped over her face. She seemed lost in her own world, so much so that she didn't react when Oliver sat right next to her.

_I hate seeing her like this,_ Oliver thought.

Cautiously, he cleared his throat, causing her to jump a bit.

"Ah… hey, Oliver…"

"Moira, what's wrong?" Oliver asked, before catching himself. "I mean, I know what's wrong, you, um, you lost." Seeing Moira's frown deepen he furiously backpedalled. "Sorry, I mean, it's really not that big a deal, I mean, she's a Gym Leader! Her team is supposed to be really strong, there's nothing wrong with losing to her."

Moira didn't respond. Oliver's mind raced to figure out how to help her. After all, Moira would do the same for him. She _had _done the same for him.

"Look… it's not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things. It wasn't like you crashed and burned. You didn't lose to her because you were a bad trainer, you were absolutely crushing her until she brought out her Gliscor from Hell."

Moira let out a chuckle, then wiped her nose on her sleeve.

"There's still plenty of time left for the Gym Challenge. There's still a month left until the tournament, you still have time to train a bit and challenge her again." Hesitantly, he put a hand on her shoulder, which seemed to calm her down a bit. "When I lost all those battles, you were there to get me out of my funk. Now it's my turn to help you."

Moira turned her head to look him in the eyes, with her own being watery and shiny. "Oliver… Ah-"

Before she could finish her thought, she was interrupted by the sound of the speaker.

_Ding ding ding-ding ding!_

_Moira Taylor, your team has been fully recovered._

"Thanks," Moira said as she stood up. "You, uh… ye wanna train with me later?"

"Of course!" Oliver said cheerfully, glad Moira was at least feeling well enough to talk to him again. "We'll show that Gliscor what for."

Moira nodded once before sweeping her fallen hair out of her eyes and stood up to pick up her team. "There you are! Their injuries have been healed," the nurse said as she handed back her Pokéballs. "Just some advice, though," she added as Moira took them back. "After that fight, you might want to let them rest for a while. They might be healed, but you shouldn't push them too hard right away."

"Ah'll remember that. Thanks!"

"Anytime!" the nurse said, bowing. "We're always here to help."

Moira turned back to Oliver. Her eyes were still a little red but she was looking more and more like her old self. "C'mon, Oliver, let's grab Scarlet and grab some food."

"Good idea."

The two walked out to the front door of the Center, which automatically slid open.

...Revealing a certain blonde standing right there.

"Whoa! Amber!" Oliver reacted, surprised. "Sorry, are we in your way? We were just leaving!"

"Nah," Amber replied, seeming more preoccupied by something on her phone. "My team's in good shape, I wasn't on my way in."

"Then what do ye want, ye nyaff?" Moira groaned.

"Oh, this won't take long. See, I just happened to stumble on a very interesting video from a year or two ago."

She tapped the screen and flipped her phone around so the others could see. Oliver squinted in confusion. The video seemed to display a grassy sports field, a Pokémon stadium he would guess. "A Pokémon battle? Moira, what do you think-" he turned to ask her thoughts but Moira looked absolutely petrified.

"Uh… Moira?"

"Keep watching," Amber said, smirking. "The good part's coming up."

Oliver hesitantly kept watching, and indeed, it seemed to be a Pokémon battle, the two competitors being a Sobble and a Pokémon he didn't recognize. It looked like some sort of mix between a Bellossom and a Whimsicott.

_It looks like a broadcast of some kind._

That was when the announcer in the video spoke up, his accent indicating that this fight was taking place in Galar.

"**The challenger's Wooloo may have been defeated, but Gossifleur is no longer Dynamaxed, so her last Pokémon might have a chance to pull out a victory!"**

The camera movements now gave Oliver a clearer view of the competitors. One of them, who he supposed was a Gym Leader, was built like a mountain with a distractingly boyish face, a massive farmer's hat over reddish-brown hair. The other trainer, dressed in a sports uniform with the same colors, was-

"Moira? Is that you?" Oliver asked, hesitantly. Moira seemed to be shaking in her boots.

"Keep watching," Amber prodded.

Oliver turned back to the screen and noted that Moira looked like she was all nerves. In the recording, Moira sent out her Sobble, her voice cracking as she sent her first companion out. Oliver bit his lip, knowing how this fight was going to end.

_I'm not familiar with that Pokémon, but it's probably fully-evolved and _definitely _Grass-type. Sobble didn't stand a chance, did he._

Indeed, despite Sobble's efforts to use Water Gun, one Magical Leaf from Gossifleur was more than enough to put down the timid Water-type.

Sobble collapsed to the ground anticlimactically, and the Moira in the video was starting to shake much more violently. Before the announcer had even finished declaring the victor…

The Moira in the recording _exploded._

"MOTHERF***ER YE CANNAE EVEN BEAT ONE F***IN GYM LEADER CAN YE, AFTER I SPENT ALL THAT F***IN TIME TRAINING YE BLEEDIN' F***ERS!"

Oliver watched in morbid fascination as Moira's breakdown devolved further and further, its contents expanding into every curse word he'd ever heard, along with a few words he… thought were swears?

The Gym Leader (who Oliver picked up was named Milo) just went stiff and backed away slowly from the foulmouthed adolescent in the midst of a mental breakdown.

That shout was the sound of a girl who had just been defeated for all the region to see and _she was not taking it well._

Eventually the recording was cut off once the people at the studio evidently got over their shock and cut the live feed off, but the damage was done. Everyone had seen it. Moira had cussed out her team on _live television_.

But the worst part? Oliver might've laughed at the embarrassment himself if the girl in the video wasn't standing less than a foot away from him.

Oliver almost didn't want to turn his head to look at Moira, but he forced himself to, and Moira looked like her soul had decided to take a quick bathroom break and left her body. She was stiff as a board, pale, her breathing shallow, tears beginning to form in her eyes once again.

"The Angry Galarian Kid was a really big meme in Galar, but it's still around here," Amber said.

The implications began to settle in Oliver's mind. After a humiliating display like that, Moira probably couldn't show her face in public. She was probably jumping at the chance to move to another region, where she wouldn't be seen as the most pottymouthed sore loser in history.

_Moira… I'm so sorry…_

"Still," Amber continued, "you can't actually see her that well in the video, so it's hard to tell it's you at a glance. Sure would be a shame if someone were to put her next to another trainer who just got destroyed in another Gym battle and revealed they were the same."

Upon hearing this, Moira seemed to come to. "Ye… ye wouldn't…"

"Oh, but I would. My dad may not be as famous as Raleigh, but he still has plenty of fans all throughout the region who follow him. And a lot of them follow me too, for being related to him. That's a pretty big audience to see the Angry Galarian Kid exposed," she sneered, typing up a social media post, no doubt revealing that the Angry Galarian Kid was still at it, and she just failed once again. "And they'll be interested to know that you haven't actually improved as a Trainer since then."

"Please, I- I'm beggin' ye-" Moira pleaded, shaking.

"Maybe you should've thought of that before you slapped me and made a fool of me back in Rokkraw."

She clicked Share.

Without another word Amber pocketed her phone and, making a show of brushing dust off her jacket, walked away from the two stunned teens.

"Don't worry," she said without turning to face them. "Now you'll have an audience for the rest of the Gym Challenge. Unless you drop out, of course. Wouldn't blame you!"

As the blonde disappeared down the road, Moira let her tears start falling again. Oliver was at a complete loss as to what to do. Hesitantly, he reached out to put his hand on her shoulder again to ground her, but before he could, Moira bolted, running off at top speed, leaving Oliver in the dust.

Just as Moira passed out of sight as well, another set of footsteps approached him. Oliver turned and it was Scarlet, holding Ralts while Cassandra ran beside them.

"Oliver! I saw what Amber just posted! Where's Moira?"

"She just ran off!" Oliver said. "Down that way! We've got to catch up to her before she does anything stupid!"

"Doesn't she have her Pokémon with her?"

"Yeah, but the nurse said they still need some rest! I'm worried something bad will happen!"

Without another word, Oliver took off in the direction Moira went, Scarlet running behind, still carrying Ralts in her hands.

* * *

_**Guess who's back! I got my motivation to write back after I finished Sleeper Hit. Sorry it took so long. On top of that, I had to workshop my plans for Moira but I think I know where the story is going now.**_

_**Hopefully I can get back into a groove with posting new chapters. Expect me to alternate between this, Sleeper Hit side stories, and XIV stories.**_


	22. A House Divided

Moira couldn't think. She felt completely numb as she rushed past the confused onlookers. The sounds of the people and Pok émon and cars around her went distant and dull as she barreled through. She couldn't stay put, she needed space, the buildings around her seemed to grow taller and taller, their shadows darker and more overwhelming as the reality of what Amber just did set in.

Her mind went back to a map of the region she'd seen back at the Pok émon Center. Route 6 passed through a greener, more forested area. Compared to the arid, rocky, dusty landscapes she'd seen the past few towns she decided a change of scenery might help her clear her head.

Dashing out of city limits, she didn't stop when she reached the tall grass. A wild Rufflet eyed her curiously as she darted past at full speed. That's when she spotted the forest.

Halfway down Route 6 was a river, which flowed down south until it hit the ocean. Route 6 itself passed over a stone bridge to the other side. Trees sprung up by the river for about half a mile, stretching all the way up and down the river.

Perfect, a place I can be alone for a while, she thought as she ran through the trees. If nothing else, there's no cell service out here, I can avoid the inevitable, at least for a while…

"Hey, what's the hurry?"

Moira yelped as she tripped, the sudden voice distracting her and sending her crashing to the dirt. As she tried getting to her feet, she suddenly realized how tired she was after her run. As she started panting, her vision cleared as she saw a hand reached down to help her up. Moira's gaze followed the arm and she was surprised to see Lennoa there, Gallade not too far away.

"L-Lennoa?" she asked, taking her hand and letting herself be pulled up. "What're ye doing out here?"

"Training," she said simply. "Gotta keep Gallade's skills sharp, after all," she said, gesturing off to the side towards an unconscious Machoke that looked like it had a very bad day. "What about you?"

Moira began to tear up again. "I… I lost."

Lennoa nodded in understanding. "Yeah, her Gliscor's pretty nasty. From what I heard, Amelia could've moved up in the circuit, but she wanted to stay near the bottom so she'd give that wake-up call to any trainers who thought they could coast by on type advantage. But there's more going on, isn't there?" She asked. "Something else happened? I don't think you'd be this upset over just a loss."

"...I don't wanna talk about it." Moira looked back up at Lennoa and, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something she hadn't before. In the distance was a cabin, the wood dark and looking slightly decayed, with broken windows and a dark blue rusted roof. "...What's that over yonder?"

Gallade looked back at the cabin while Lennoa didn't turn away from Moira. "That's the Haunted Cabin. It used to belong to the architect of the bridge and his family, but after the bridge was finished the family disappeared. Since then, a lot of Ghost Pokémon have been living there."

Moira looked at the cabin, taking a step towards it. Indeed, the area around the old decrepit house seemed to radiate an aura of darkness.

"I think I oughta do some trainin' of my own. All my Pokémon are fighters, so a tricky Ghost-type would be a big help to the team." Moira took another step in that direction before Lennoa put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"I wouldn't recommend it," she warned. "There's one Pokémon in particular that feeds off of negative emotion. And I'm worried about what'll happen if you go in there in your current headspace."

Moira shook her head. "I have to. I have tae prove I'm not weak. That I'm not just- just an overemotional joke!" With that she turned tail and ran towards the house.

Lennoa sighed and shook her head, knowing that there really wasn't anything she could do to dissuade her.

* * *

"Which way did she go?" Oliver asked, having set Ralts down on the ground. They had followed Moira to roughly the city limits but lost track of her. Oliver suggested having Ralts try and find her. As an empath, Ralts might be able to sense Moira's negativity and follow it, like a Stoutland tracking a scent. Meanwhile, Cassandra was looking around at her surroundings, looking a little antsy, which concerned Scarlet somewhat.

As Ralts stood, trying to track it down, Scarlet looked between her and Oliver. "You sure this is going to work?"

"It's all we really got," Oliver said. "But we have to do something . With all the wild Pokémon out here, I'm worried something might happen to her. I'm… I'm really worried."

Scarlet opted to say nothing, letting Oliver continue his train of thought.

"Not that I think she's a bad trainer, she's got more experience than me, but she's really upset after what happened, and oh geez she probably thinks I hate her because of the video, I could never hate her! I just really, really like her and I don't want anything bad to-"

"Wait, hold up," Scarlet chimed in. "You… said you like her?"

Oliver blushed, realizing he said that out loud. "Um… yeah."

"Like… you LIKE like her?"

Oliver nodded, a little embarrassed.

"Does she know?"

"N-no, I never told her."

"Well why not?" Scarlet pressed.

"Why are you asking me this now?"

"It's not like we have anything else to do until Ralts picks up her signal."

"True…" Oliver sighed and put his hands in his pockets. "You know I haven't had very many friends. Amber was always way more popular than me, and she always picked on me so no one else wanted to be around me. Aside from you of course."

"But Moira is the first friend your age you've had," Scarlet caught on.

"Exactly. And I don't want to ruin it. What if I tell her how I feel, and she doesn't like me back? It'll make things really awkward between us, and… and I don't want to lose another friend, okay?"

Scarlet frowned, wanting to tell him that no, Moira wouldn't stop being his friend just because of that, but before the words had left her mouth, Ralts jolted. The Psychic Pokémon pointed in the direction of the Route 6 forest. Oliver nodded, let Ralts back in the backpack, and took off running, as did Scarlet and Cassandra.

Just as they reached the first tree, they slowed to a stop upon seeing Lennoa there. She and Gallade seemed to be on their way out when they spotted the approaching trainer and former trainer.

"Oh, you guys! Perfect timing!" Lennoa called. "I was just about to go back to look for you. I would've called, but, you know, no service out here."

"Have you seen Moira?" Oliver asked.

"Yep. Ran into the Haunted Cabin to do some training," she said, which made Scarlet's eyes widen.

"Wait, the Haunted Cabin? The same one where that architect and his family disappeared?"

"That's the one."

Oliver readjusted his glasses. "All right. We're going in after her."

"Me and Gallade will come with you," Lennoa agreed. "Between the three of us, I'd say-"

"Whoa whoa, wait a moment. I'm sorry," Scarlet interrupted. "But I'm not a trainer anymore. Me and Cassandra just came to- Cassandra come back! " she wailed as the Dark-type ran off into the woods towards the cabin.

"Sorry," Lennoa shrugged. "Guess the choice has been made for you."

"What if she gets hurt?" Scarlet protested.

"Scarlet, she's a Dark-type," Oliver pointed out. "She's got a natural advantage over Ghost-types, she'll be all right. Come on, we gotta find Moira!"

* * *

"Wooloo, use Wild Charge!" Moira yelled. Wooloo surrounded herself in electricity, the crackling light piercing the darkness and temporarily blinding the Duskull right before the wooly ball of lightning collided with it head-on. The Duskull was immediately flung backwards and landed on the ground before it disappeared.

"Good work, lass," Moira said with a subdued tone of voice. The training had been going well for Drizzile and Wooloo, but Nidorino and Tyrogue were just out of luck. Poison and Fighting moves were pretty much useless against Ghosts, so there wasn't a chance for her weakest team member and recently-evolved newcomer to power up.

Moira was standing in a hallway with windows on her left and doors on her right. The wood wasn't particularly rotten or decayed, but with the light fixtures not working and the shadows of the forest around it, it had a spooky atmosphere nonetheless, especially with the rooms deeper inside the cabin pitch-black.

She sighed, wishing she'd thought this through better. She was about to withdraw Wooloo when she heard a rustling noise behind her. Moira couldn't see anything, so instead she walked up to the room that she thought it came from. She peered inside.

It was a small child's bedroom. It seemed to have the one functioning lightbulb in the entire cabin, although it was definitely on its last legs with all the flickering. Inside the room was a bed that hadn't been made in a long time, with all sorts of Pokémon-related stickers on the wall, and a wooden desk with a ton of paper strewn about on it. Each one seemed to have a doodle of Pokémon on it.

Moira looked over at them out of curiosity. She flipped through them, wondering how old the child was. Four? Five? What happened to them? Were they a boy or-

She paused, her skin going pale.

There were two drawings that weren't Pokémon.

The first had a couple crudely-drawn people on it. One of them was much shorter, with a blue t-shirt and a notable frowny face. The larger of the two looked very angry, with big scribbled eyebrows and a wide mouth with fangs, who seemed to be yelling. In one hand, the larger doodle man was holding a bottle.

Moira felt a shiver travel up her entire body.

She turned her attention to the second drawing. Calling it a drawing was a bit generous, since the paper's contents were just a single big splotch of black. Just drawn in seemingly at random, not in any particular shape, just one big angry scribbly mass of black.

...from which a pair of glowing yellow eyes suddenly opened.

Moira yelped and dropped the paper, falling back and landing hard on the floor. The paper didn't fall to the ground. Rather, it seemed to rise as though blown into the air by an unfelt gust of wind. The black mass on the paper coalesced into a watery, 3-dimensional shape, still pitch-black, before forming into a vaguely humanoid form with its arms, head, and torso coming out of the paper, still with those glowing yellow eyes.

* * *

INKOUL

Doodle Pokémon

Ghost

Its body is made out of ink, so during the day it hides on paper and disguises itself as a child's drawing. It grows stronger and more unstable if it's around someone filled with negative thoughts.

* * *

"Wooloo! W-Wild Charge!" she stammered. She was unfamiliar with this particular Pokémon- it was native to Allanza after all- and she figured it might be a Water-type given its liquid body.

Unfortunately, it was not. The hit connected, electricity sparking as the paper was blown back. While a little singed, and while Inkoul had retreated back into it, the paper soon returned to the air and the Pokémon popped out of it. It shot its hand out, and suddenly an inky blackness began to spread from a spot on the ground beneath it, enveloping the entire floor. Moira backed away but couldn't escape it, finding herself rooted to the floor as the wet blackness reached her feet.

What move is this? It looks like it roots Pokémon to the ground if they stand in this ink…

Wooloo, unfortunately, only had physical moves to rely on, and with its hooves stuck to the ground, there wasn't much it could do as Inkoul used Night Slash to cut through Wooloo's coat.

Moira pulled out her Pokéball and withdrew Wooloo. To her relief, the ink didn't stop Pokémon from being pulled into their balls. She switched Wooloo out for Drizzile, who immediately found himself stuck in the ink as well.

"Try using Water Gun on the ink!" she said, hoping Drizzile could free himself. Drizzile nodded and fired a burst of water at the ground, but it didn't wash away the blackness. Whatever this was, it wouldn't be washed away so easily.

"Fine, then. Use Water Pulse on that Ghost there!"

But before Drizzile could do so, Inkoul responded by glowing a bit and releasing rings of spectral light. Moira's eyes widened as she recognized the move as Hypnosis. And, rooted to the spot as he was, Drizzile couldn't avoid it, falling asleep immediately.

Moira cursed loudly, withdrawing Drizzile. Pulling out another ball, she sent out Tyrogue, hoping to at least stall.

"Tyrogue, use Protect!" she cried as Inkoul let out Ominous Wind. It was deflected by Tyrogue's defense, which thankfully shielded Moira as well.

That worked, at least, but the only attacks Tyrogue has are Fighting-type! Why didn't I bring Lennoa in here with me?

"Keep up yer guard, Tyrogue!" she called, hoping her stalling would hold out long enough.

* * *

"This place sure is spooky," Lennoa said.

"Let's just find Moira and Cassandra and get out," Scarlet said.

"Agreed. Let's split up," Lennoa suggested.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Oliver asked. "Scarlet doesn't have any Pokémon on her."

"Good point…"

The three of them walked into the first room they saw, the only light coming in through the far window. The kitchen, it looked like. Moira obviously wasn't in here. As they passed through, Oliver cringed as he felt something break underneath him. He looked down and saw an empty, broken glass bottle.

He looked around and saw a number of similar bottles, as well as a few broken plates… and knives.

Lots and lots of knives.

He shivered. "Let's keep moving, guys. This place gives me the willies."

"Agreed."

Just then, they heard a clatter coming from a room down the hall. "That must be her!" They ran down to investigate and arrived just in time to see Moira rooted to the ground by some weird black substance, as well as Tyrogue being taken down with Ominous Wind.

Oliver leapt into action, pulling out a Pokéball. "Go Sableye! Use Feint Attack!"

The jewel-eyed ghost popped out and immediately leapt into the room.

Moira's eyes widened. "No, if you step in that stuff, yre won't be able to-"

But Moira's protests went unheard, as Sableye was already halfway across the room, surrounded with an eerie purple aura as it struck Inkoul from behind.

"...Ah. Nevermind."

As Inkoul was thrown across the room, the black inky mass dissipated, and Moira collapsed to her knees. "Phew… That was… intense..."

As she knelt there, catching her breath, the piece of paper blew out the door into the hall, one again as though the wind was blowing it. Moira stood up and watched it blow down the hall, but first turned her attention to Oliver and suddenly, it came flooding back to her why she was here in the first place. Oliver opened his mouth to say something but was cut off.

"Ye saw the video… ye saw what I'm really like." Moira said, starting to tear up a little. "D-don't ye hate me? Why did ye come after me?"

"Because you're my friend," Oliver said without hesitation. And that was all the answer she needed.

She walked forward and wrapped Oliver in a tight hug, burying her head in his shoulder, a weight lifted, if only a bit. The video was still out there, that hadn't changed. But at least she wouldn't have to be alone again.

"Oh, there you are, Cassandra!" Scarlet said suddenly, interrupting their moment. Moira separated from the hug to face her, not noticing Oliver's slight blush. "You need to stop running off like that."

Lennoa smiled. "Well, Moira's safe and we found your Absol. Let's get back to town."

"Before we do…" Moira asked. "Scarlet, you have your Pokédex, right? What was that?"

Scarlet pulled up her app and opened it up to Inkoul's entry. "Here it is. Never seen one in person before, though."

Moira read through it, her expression slowly morphing into a smirk. "Well…" she said, handing Scarlet her phone back. "I know what I'm gonna catch next."

* * *

The paper slid down the hall, remaining on the floor. The white paper stood out against the worn-out carpet and the dark wallpaper. Inkoul hadn't taken much damage during the fight, but it had exerted itself trying to break Tyrogue's guard. It did eventually, but now it needed to rest.

"Drizzile! Water Pulse!"

Rest it wasn't going to get, it seemed, as a ring of water barreled down the hallway and washed over the paper, soaking it and weakening Inkoul. Inkoul floated back up and mustered another Ominous Wind.

The Water-type braced himself, allowing the wind to hit him. However, it wasn't as strong as the one that had earlier been used against Tyrogue.

Disoriented from the attack, Inkoul tried to withdraw, but it instead floated right into a wall, the piece of paper falling to the floor, presenting Moira with the opportunity she needed.

Pulling out a Pokéball, she tossed it at Inkoul, the Pokéball drawing it into itself and snapping shut. It landed on the ground, shaking once… twice… three times…

Moira held her breath as she watched the Pokéball do its work.

*Click*

With a sigh of relief and some subdued cheering from Oliver and Lennoa, Moira walked forward to pick up her new catch. Scarlet took out her Pokédex and began to scan the now captured Inkoul, obtaining some new data.

"Nice job on that catch," Lennoa congratulated. "So.. you want to head back into town now?"

"Aye," Moira nodded, sighing as she put away the Pokéball. "I guess it's high time I faced the music…"

"I'm sure it won't be that bad," Oliver said. "And if it is… we'll be right there with you."

"...Thank ye."

The group left the cabin and started back on the road to Arryline. Moira's mind wandered as she tried to distract herself from her humiliation, and she remembered what Lennoa told her, about how Oliver had a crush on her. She still didn't know how reliable Lennoa's powers would be, but after today...

She really hoped it was true

* * *

_**Sorry I took so long with this chapter. I haven't had the motivation to write this Pokémon story for a while, but I really want to get through it. There are parts later in the story I'm really excited to share, but the problem is in getting there. Hopefully, after my MHA fanfic, my writing skills have improved slightly.**_

_**And in case you're curious, Inkoul's signature move is called Inky Terrain. It makes it so all grounded Pokémon cannot dodge attacks and increases the power of Ghost-type moves.**_


	23. Revelations

"Ye want tae know something, Oliver?"

"What?"

"Ever since the incident, I've never actually had a social media account. Half of the comments were laughing at me, the other half were saying… other things."

"Huh. That right?"

"Aye. And I never did get around to making another one when I moved to Allanza. And I have to say, I'm really glad I didn't." Moira turned her phone screen so Oliver could see it.

She had it open to the video Amber had shared. Or more accurately, the comments.

Oliver cringed so hard that Ralts, who was in Oliver's backpack and not even looking at the screen, cringed just as badly.

"Ouch."

"Aye."

The sun was beginning to set on Arryline as the two made their way to the hotel, a tall, plain, white building with blue tinted windows. Scarlet and Lennoa had slowed down to talk with one another, telling the two of them to go on ahead and they'd catch up. That was just fine by Oliver. After all that had happened today, Oliver would have liked nothing more than to flop down on his bed and lay there for the next 18 hours.

Unfortunately for him, his day was just getting started.

"Hey, guys!"

The group turned to see a figure approaching them. Moira instinctively tensed up, wondering if the video had gotten around that quickly, but soon breathed a sigh of relief when she realized she recognized the voice, as did Oliver.

"Oh, Crosly! Fancy meeting you here. How's it going?"

Crosly simply grinned and held out his shiny new Glide Badge. His clothes looked a bit singed, which was to be expected, since he did have two Fire-types on his team. He shifted his shoulders to adjust the weight of the brown backpack he was wearing. Also, he seemed to be looking back and forth at a rapid pace, as if he was looking out for something. "I didn't see you guys after I won my match. Have you fought her yet?"

"Well," Oliver said, "I haven't, but Moira had."

"Don't remind me…" Moira groaned, hanging her head.

Crosly hissed sympathetically. "That bad, huh?"

"Ah'd rather not talk about it…"

"Hey, Crosly," Oliver said, an idea occurring to him. "Did you already get your Pokémon healed?"

"Yeah, just got back from the Pokémon Center. ...Oh," he said, eyes widening as he caught on. "You want to battle me?"

Oliver nodded, adjusting his glasses. "My team hasn't seen much action today. Except Sableye, but she's still raring to go."

"I don't really know," Crosly said, fidgeting a little as his eyes drifted back to his backpack for a split second. "It's gonna be dark soon, you know, and I want to rest my team before we head to Halberd Station.

Moira raised an eyebrow, partly because she had never heard of "Halberd Station" before, but also because Crosly seemed off. _ He was so much more confident at the opening ceremony, and when he fought Ricky. Something's going on here… _

One glance at Oliver told her he was thinking the same thing. "Come on, it's not for prize money or anything," he said. "I just want to get a taste of a strong team who can take out the second Gym Leader. We could both stand to get some training in."

After a moment, Crosly shrugged, his usual self-assured laid-back smile returning to his face. "Sounds good to me," Crosly replied. "There's a bunch of open space in front of the hotel, I've seen Pokémon battles there sometimes."

The two walked onto the dark green grass, standing a fair distance across from each other, Crosly taking off his backpack and setting it down. He pulled out a Pokéball and prepared to throw it. "You ready?"

"Whenever you are," Oliver said, gripping the straps of his own backpack.

Moira sat aways off, sitting down on the grass and letting her Pokémon out, figuring they could use some fresh air after what they'd been through, and maybe enjoy the show. Though she didn't let Inkoul out just yet, she still wanted to break him in a bit. "Good luck, Oliver," she called.

Oliver felt his heart flutter a bit at her encouragement but remained relatively stoic. "Go, Joltik!" he shouted as Joltik jumped out of his backpack and springboarded off his outstretched hand.

"Go, Kinderbil!" Crosly shouted as he tossed his Pokéball and the small red rodent emerged, still inside its tumbleweed.

Moira watched them intently, taking notes for her upcoming rematch. Though in her head, she knew she shouldn't take this too seriously. This was just a friendly battle between two rival trainers after all.

* * *

"I don't get it," Scarlet said, looking at Cassandra in concern. "Ever since the two got out of sight she's been acting really on edge."

"Well, I'm assuming you're familiar with that quirk Absol tend to have," Lennoa suggested, Gallade walking resolutely by her side. "They know when something bad is about to happen." Indeed, Cassandra was fidgeting, looking back and forth as if something was going to jump out.

"You think it's bad?"

"Hard to say. But it probably isn't some massive natural disaster. Otherwise she'd be going absolutely ballistic."

Scarlet nodded. _ Oliver, Moira, please be okay… _

* * *

"Use Electroweb!" Oliver cried out. Joltik obediently spun its sparking web and fired it at Kinderbil, who was rolling towards the Bug-type using Flame Wheel. The web caught on the tumbleweed, slowing it down significantly, giving Joltik enough time to jump out of the way.

"All right, great work! Now use-"

Before he'd even finished giving the command, Kinderbil managed to tear through the web, rolling around and striking Joltik off-guard.

"Joltik!" Oliver cried, as Joltik was burned by the impact.

"Nice work, Kinderbil! Hit him again!"

Oliver grimaced as Kinderbil began building up speed for another Flame Wheel, not having enough time to withdraw him as Kinderbil collided with Joltik once again, knocking it out.

_ I thought for sure Electroweb would keep him in place for longer… though maybe the fire helped him tear through. _

Oliver pulled out a Pokéball and withdrew the downed Bug-type, before throwing out another ball. "Go, Hoodlet!" The floppy-eared, basket-wielding Pokémon began hopping in place, ready to fight. "Use Bounce!"

Hoodlet rocketed into the air as Crosly swore under his breath. _ Kinderbil won't be able to last against a Flying-type move like that. _ "Dodge it!"

Kinderbil rolled around to avoid Hoodlet's flight path, but Hoodlet glared down at it. Her big fluffy ears opened to slow her descent slightly. It wasn't much, but it was enough that she could veer into Kinderbil's path and get the drop on him, dealing massive damage. The Fire/Grass-type struggled to get to its feet after being knocked over inside its tumbleweed, leaving it wide open for another full-power use of Bounce.

On the sidelines, Drizzile and Wooloo both watched the fight unfold. Drizzile was calmly watching Oliver's Pokémon in action, while Wooloo seemed to be hyped for the action, letting out an enthusiastic _ baaa _as Hoodlet made the finishing blow. Nidorino and Tyrogue were also watching the fight unfold.

Crosly withdrew the unconscious Kinderbil and threw out another Pokéball, this time sending out Sawbit.

Oliver withdrew Hoodlet in response, sending out Sableye. "All right, girl, it's your time to shine," he said as Sableye was brought out for the second time that day. Luckily, Sableye wasted no time getting into a fighting position, her crystal eyes reflecting the sunset.

"Sableye, use Shadow Claw!"

"Sawbit, use Razor Shell!"

And so it was that Sawbit charged towards its opponent with its claws seeming to be surrounded in water as Sableye stuck to the shadows. At this time of day, as the sun was going down, Sableye had much more room to maneuver, the darkness strengthening her attacks and allowing her to move quicker within the shadows.

Shadow Claw slashed out as Sawbit missed its target, the claw damaging Sawbit's natural armor but not penetrating it.

_ It's going to come to a battle of attrition with Sawbit, _ Oliver thought to himself. _ It's got great defenses, so I have to use a Pokémon that can reliably avoid getting hit. Shame Joltik got taken out, he's got the speed _ and _ a type advantage. Oh well, hindsight's 20/20. Unlike my eyesight. _

And Sableye did just that, staying out of harm's way and taking potshots at Sawbit, wearing it down little by little. Oliver watched carefully as Sableye kept up her assault. Oliver began to smirk. It didn't look like Sawbit could take much more.

So he was a little surprised when Crosly began to chuckle.

"Sawbit, use Foresight."

Oliver froze. Sawbit uncurled and looked over Sableye with a piercing gaze, seeming to see something Oliver couldn't. _ Now it can hit Sableye with Normal moves! That means it's gonna use something big! _

"Quick, Sableye, finish it off with Shadow Claw!"

"Sawbit, use Endeavor!"

As Sableye closed in, Sawbit leapt up and gripped Sableye in its spiky legs, digging in. Oliver recognized the move. When used, it brought the target's stamina down to the user's level. _ This must have been his plan all along, to use it on Sableye and take advantage of the strength of its armor! _

"Oh no! Sableye!" Moira cried, Tyrogue growling angrily at Sawbit while Drizzile winced, his sensitivity evidently not lessened by evolution.

"Now use Razor Shell!"

This time, Sableye was too close and too tired to avoid it. The watery claw sank into Sableye and knocked the poor girl unconscious.

Oliver withdrew the downed ghost type and considered his next Pokémon.

_ I'm down to Ralts, Hoodlet, and Lyote. Ralts is at a severe type disadvantage and isn't sturdy enough to take a hit, Hoodlet has Bounce but would easily get hit by Endeavor once again… Lyote's weak to Water but he'll have to do. _

"Go, Lyote!"

The bipedal wolflike Ground/Dark-type stood up and growled at Sawbit.

"Lyote, use Hone Claws!" _ We're not gonna bring the fight to Sawbit. We'll let Sawbit bring the fight to us. _

"Buffing yourself, eh?" Crosly taunted. "Don't mind if I do the same. Sawbit, use Defense Curl!"

Oliver smirked. _ Got 'em. _"Quickly, use Guard Catch!"

As Sawbit was tensing its muscles and contracting into its shell, it quickly found itself in Lyote's grip, but was unable to strike back as Lyote slammed it into the ground, which knocked it out cold.

Crosly withdrew Lyote and swapped to his next Pokémon. "Go, Nidorina!"

The sky blue Poison-type emerged in a flash of light and let out a small roar at Lyote. Oliver narrowed his eyes. He knew Lyote had a type advantage over Poison, but Crosly definitely had something in mind.

Moira, on instinct, turned around to look at her own Nidorino, and she swore she saw hearts in his eyes. She let out an amused sigh and turned to Drizzile. "Drizzile, could ye do me a favor and snap Nidorino out of it?"

Drizzle nonchalantly pointed its finger and let loose a weak Water Gun, splashing Nidorino and snapping it out of its daydream.

Moira shook her head. "Male Pokémon, I swear..:"

"Lyote, use Sand Tomb!" Oliver cried out, pointing at Nidorina. Lyote slammed one of his paws on the ground. The ground beneath Nidorina softened as a cloud of dust erupted, swirling around the Poison-type.

"Nidorina, hit back with Double Kick!"

The blue spiky Pokémon charged out of the whirlwind, looking hardly worse for wear from the high-speed sandstorm, landing a pair of solid kicks on Lyote, sending him flying back. He quickly regained his footing and bared its claws.

_ With those spikes, I can't risk a physical attack, so I'll just have to stick with Ground for now. _"Lyote, use Bulldoze!"

"Go for another Double Kick, Nidorina!"

Nidorina charged as Lyote stomped on the ground, causing it to shake, sending chunks of earth rising upwards in a dangerous fashion. Nidorina, however, was hardly scratched or even slowed down as it charged towards Lyote. The Ground-type's eyes widened as he realized the world of pain he was about to be in.

_ No way! That thing's a freaking truck! _ Oliver thought as Nidorina's legs slammed into Lyote at full speed, knocking him out and sending him flying back even further, to the point that Oliver actually had to dodge out of the way.

_ Nidorina hardly broke a sweat, _ Oliver thought as he withdrew the downed Poison-type. _ She's definitely built to last. But that's just physical attacks. We don't know how she'll handle mental attacks, and I still have one more Pokémon with a type advantage. _

"All right, Ralts, make me proud!"

Ralts jumped out of the backpack and took Lyote's place on the field.

"All right, Nidorina, take it out with a Horn Attack!" Crosly quickly ordered.

Oliver smirked. _ So I was right, Nidorina can't take special moves as easily! Of course, Ralts can't do much damage if she's stabbed with those horns. _"Ralts, use Hypnosis!"

Ralts's horn began glowing and circular waves of light began to emanate from it, and as Nidorina was now charging headfirst at Ralts, she couldn't really help looking directly at the rings and found herself growing drowsy.

"Shake it off, Nidorina, wake up!"

Nidorina was already stirring at Crosly's voice, so Oliver and Ralts had to act fast. "Quickly, use Confusion!"

Ralts nodded and began glowing again, pinkish energy surrounding Nidorina and flying into her, causing her to jar awake, but stumble even after regaining consciousness. Confusion had lived up to its namesake and thrown Nidorina's senses out of whack.

"Just one more hit! Use Confusion one more time and bring her down!"

"Shake it off, Nidorina!" Crosly shouted desperately, but the psychic energy had already surrounded Nidorina. Her mind was once again assaulted by the psychic barrage and her eyes drifted shut once again, fainting right there.

"Good work, Oliver!" Moira cheered. "He's only got one left, and you've got two! You can take him out!"

Crosly took out Flintail's Pokéball and sighed. "Guess it didn't work as well as I thought it would," he muttered. "Maybe it's wearing off…?"

If Oliver heard anything Crosly said, it was swiftly forgotten in favor of the voices and loud footsteps coming towards them.

"_Cassandra!" _

_ "Cass, get back here!" _

_ "Absol!" _

Moira and Oliver both turned to look at the source of the noise. Cassandra was sprinting towards them at top speed. Gallade was making a valiant attempt to keep up, holding Lennoa in his arms bridal-style. Scarlet was stuck with her own two legs and looked positively winded, though that didn't stop her from crying out.

"Scarlet? What the f***'s going on with yer Absol?"

Crosly would've been more than happy to take care of the distraction and have Flintail get a free hit on Ralts, but then he realized the rogue Absol was gunning right for him.

"Whoa, hey, what are you-" he nervously said, backing up, and braced himself for impact…

only to realize that Absol was aiming not for him, but his backpack.

His eyes widened and the blood drained from his face as Absol tackled the backpack, sending its contents spreading over the grass. A Pokédex, a few healing items, a couple Pokéballs…

And a shiny, metallic, jet-black rectangular case.

Time seemed to slow to a halt as everyone stared at the familiar case. Even Scarlet forgot about both her pursuit and her fatigue as she laid eyes on the bag's contents.

Finally, it was Oliver who spoke up.

"Crosly…? You… you were using Breakthrough…?"

Crosly stammered, any trace of the self-assured contender from the opening ceremony absolutely shattered. "You… how do you know about-"

"Ye've been buying from Team Vortex, haven't ya?" Moira accused.

Crosly gulped. "I, I didn't know they were the ones behind it, I just- You gotta understand, Raleigh herself, the former champion, was the one to endorse me for the tournament! Th-there was no way I'd be able to live up to her, not in a million years!"

"Do you even know what Breakthrough does?' Scarlet asked. "That on top of making them artificially stronger, it makes Pokémon completely subservient. It _ hurts _them."

"You wanted to impress Raleigh," Oliver said, looking more disappointed than Moira had ever seen him. "But you turned your Pokémon into mindlessly loyal weapons and spat on everything she stands for."

"Well, h-how's it any different from using Rare Candy?" Crosly said defensively.

"Those just accelerate a Pokémon's growth," Scarlet countered. "Their strength plateaus at the same point it would otherwise. And they don't take away a Pokémon's free will."

It was then that Oliver remembered what he thought Crosly said before Cassandra showed up.

"_Guess it didn't work as well as I thought it would. Maybe it's wearing off…? _"

"You couldn't win without it," Oliver realized, before letting out a tired sigh. "I thought you were a trainer I could call my rival. I thought we'd be able to help push each other to greater heights… I looked up to you. You seemed really cool. But I guess you're nothing but a cheater."

Crosly looked like he'd been stabbed in the gut. He was about to say something before he was cut off.

"Sorry to interrupt," Lennoa chimed in, "But while you were having all this, quite frankly riveting drama, I was contacting the tournament staff."

Crosly didn't say anything. "It's over… it's all over…" he muttered to himself.

A short while later, a League staff member Moira recognized from the Arryline Gym walked onto the scene.

"I hope you realize," she said strictly, "that this is in violation of the League's rules and regulations. I'm sorry to say this, but this is grounds for immediate disqualification."

Crosly wordlessly nodded, his head hung low. The process was quick and Crosly meandered off into the night as soon as the disqualification was made official. It didn't take long. As she explained, a number of trainers had been busted by a young undercover detective taking the challenge himself, which they all realized was Spencer. This sort of thing had been depressingly common so they dealt with it pretty quickly. It also appeared that a few trainers in Arryline were supposed to meet up with a resupplier, Crosly included, but that individual had not been identified. She asked them a few questions, apologized for taking their time, and took her leave.

"Come on, Oliver," Moira said. "Let's get yer team healed up."

Oliver nodded. "Right. Come on Ral-" he froze. Ralts was glowing a soft blue that shed light on the area around them.

Joltik was coming to, and crawled out of Oliver's backpack lethargically, freezing once he saw what was happening.

"No way," Moira breathed. "Ralts is evolving?"

"She's evolving," Oliver could only reply.

The light grew blinding and with one final flash, Oliver blinked a few times to clear his vision, and even though he knew what would be there, he still gasped.

Ralts was now quite a bit taller. Her eyes were no longer obscured by her green hair, which was now parted more to the sides. The one red horn had split into two and moved to the sides of her head. Her legs were now visible, the white fur now shaped like more of a skirt. And she was staring down at herself in awe.

"You… you evolved… You're a Kirlia now," Oliver stammered.

Kirlia looked up and met his eyes, just as amazed.

Oliver let out a laugh. "You know, I'm so used to calling you Ralts, it's gonna be really hard to adjust to calling you Kirlia now. That's gonna take some time," he said.

Kirlia smiled and shrugged.

"_Eh, I'm sure you'll get used to it. _"

Oliver froze up.

"Who said that?"

Now it was Kirlia's turn to freeze.

"_What the- did you just hear that? Did you just understand me?! _"

"Who said what?" Moira asked. "Ah didn't hear anything?"

Lennoa gasped as she pieced it together. "No, he's not hearing things. Well I mean, he is, but… well…"

"What is it?" Moira asked, she and Oliver turning to Lennoa and seeing Scarlet wearing an expression that suggested she'd figured it out as well.

"You know that psychic bond you had with Ralts?"

Oliver nodded.

"Well, I think when she evolved, that bond got a heck of a lot stronger and, well…"

Oliver slowly turned his head to meet Kirlia's eyes. "Kirlia… was… was that you?"

Kirlia put her arms behind her back and smiled nervously.

"_That… would seem to be the case, _ " the youthful, feminine voice echoed in his mind as Kirlia curtsied. "_It's nice to finally get to talk to you, Oliver. _"

He never made a response, as he was too busy passing out.


End file.
